Humanism taught us that we must create meaning for ourselves. This pursuit has focused mostly on knowledge and phenomenology, thoughts and experience. However, there is a humanistic development that includes purpose and transcendence without reverting to reduction of the individual. Teleological Humanism sees our full self-actualization as arising in the present, where the present includes a connection to the potential inherent in becoming. Human kind is not a static condition, and our evolving nature adheres to our present self-definition. How we represent ourselves to ourselves must include this entelechy.
“Man is the Measure of All Thing”
Parmenides 5th Century BCE
Parmenides’ assertion that Man is the measure of all things is the foundational mantra of Humanism. This perspective has worked to free humankind from the mental shackles of rigid orthodoxy. This freedom from mental, emotional, and behavioral restrictions has allowed for an infinite advancement of the human condition in areas of science and culture. However, utilitarian values for the betterment of our daily life and valuing of the autonomous individual came at a cost, a contraction of our human horizon in a nearly exclusive focus on the here-and-now. The removal of any sense of objective meaning for human behavior and thought created a vacuum in the place of beliefs that had been held with ardor. Meaninglessness was the price paid for this form of humanism. However, there is a humanism that does not leave a meaningless vacuum as the cost of mental, emotional, and behavioral autonomy.
Our humanistic striving to be the best we can be in the absence of objective truth is very challenging; but need not leave us feeling adrift. Such humanism is tied to our fundamental nature, framed in biology and culture. Expressing freedom within the parameters of the given condition holds the promise of real human development.
Teleological Humanism sees our potentiality as embedded in having a deep connection to an evolving future. Subjectively, a teleological moral humanism is experienced by an individual as having a future. Having a sense of future is empowering. The desire to shape what is to come can give coherence and purpose to one’s thoughts, actions, and most importantly, one’s moral commitments. This forward focus moves a person beyond situational forces into a larger context of meaning. Without a sense of future, the desires of the moment lack a coherent context.
The measure of all things is not what humankind is in the present, but what humankind is evolving towards — human potential and full actualization is the ultimate measure. We ought to measure all not by what each of us is today, but by what each of us can become. Teleological Humanism manifests as striving in each moment towards what humankind could become, that is the truest measure of all.
Conceptually, Teleological Humanism resembles the entelechy of Aristotelian virtue ethics. Entelechy is an emergent purposeful growth. This humanism is based upon a human nature that has the potential to actualize an ever-increasing humanness, an internal unfolding. This entelechy is an inner emerging force for growth, anchoring daily life in a continuum of the emergent potential, towards a fully conscious humankind. A genuinely Humanistic Teleology sees humankind as having the potential for full self-realization.
A Teleological Humanist orientation helps us focus on mindfully determined action in the present with a view towards the unfolding of one’s self in the future. This growth in the self is not archeological, as in who am I; but teleological as in what am I becoming. Schopenhauer describes this process in terms of learning who we are through reflection on our acts in the world. Actions now and in the immediate future are the actions I wish to take in order to articulate my understanding of what I am.
This teleological view articulates into what my life is evolving. This view is very helpful in answering the question of what should or ought we to do. The answer is not based on what do you need, but rather on what you see yourself becoming. Or even more efficaciously humanistic, what do you see yourself wanting to become? Teleological Humanism does not define what it is to be a human being, but offers a stance that helps us ultimately become better.