The Shape of Theological Humanism
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nition and shame as well as benevolence in human life and the ways these can be distorted and used to thwart communal life. An awareness of the vul-nerability and also vitality of social goods exposes not the Attention to social goods requires attunement to the dynamics of recog-universality of life’s
claim, but, rather, what Todorov has rightly called the “Finality” means that the existence of others places an ineluctable claim on one’s own power and, reciprocally, the self makes a similar claim on others. The “Golden Rule,” found in various cultures, is a necessary norm of the finality of the you.
social good: “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”The sthreats to the social good arise when rcasting some forms of human life outside of the community. The finality of ocial good is demarcated by patterns of giving and receiving respect; espect is wrongfully withdrawn, thereby^8
the “you” is bound to recognition and shame that transpire in relations of giving and receiving respect and a sense of benevolence.arise experientially in terms of pleasure, pain, the desire for recognition, and We have isolated the complexity of attunements to the vitality of life that
dynamics of shame. And these are linked to a sense of our bonds to others through sympathy and benevolence. These “feelings” situate human beings in a world of interlocking goods and evils that surround actions and relations to others. They also demarcate the kinds of vulnerability human beings face
in the struggle to live and live well, individually and together. There is a certain “oughtness,” an obligation to respect and enhance the integrity of life’s goods in terms of the sensibility of forms of the “oughtness” of life are not artificially and tyrannously imposed universality and also finality. These
on human existence; they articulate immediate senses of the vitality and vulnerability of life.the motivations that arise from finite, social life. People must also take some reflective stance to basic and social goods and Reflective goods satisfy not
only the drive for meaning in human life, but also open the possibility for creating new forms and ways of life. We can call these as they enable human agents to be knowingly responsible for themselves and others. These goods denote both a posture of interpretation and assessment reflective goods insofar
toward basic and social goods, but bear worth in themselves as well. This level of good aims at truthful life, meaningfulness, and self-understanding. They are the goods of culture or civilization, that is, the entire domain of symbolic, linguistic, and practical meaning-systems.
their lives through judgments about what to do and to be in relation to others and the goods that permeate their lives. Not surprisingly, reflective goods touch sensibilities or feelings that situate Human beings are pictured as creatures who, come what may, interpret human life within the vitalities