The Concept of Humanity in an Age of Globalization

Rethinking humanity as a concept in our age of globalization and its relevance to the social and political reality of our times are the topic of this book. It calls for the reclaiming of humanism as an effective response to the conflict, turmoil, and violence we witness in the world today. Concepts of humanity and humanism have become suspect of naïveté at best, and guilty of bad faith and repressive ideologies at worst. Yet, hope for improvement is incorrigibly human - the concept of humanity still holds enormous attraction to intellectuals and humanistic scholars. At the same time, it is important to realize that the critique of humanism is very much based on - and limited to - Western social and historical experience. To re-conceptualize humanity and humanism from a truly global perspective will help reclaiming a more inclusive kind of humanism. In this sense, a cross-cultural perspective is important for reclaiming humanism in our age of globalization.The present volume is the result of such an effort. The diversity of the authors' views speaks eloquently of the complexity of the concept of humanity or what constitutes the distinctly human, and therefore the necessity to have an in-depth dialogue on the fate of humanity.

Dr. Longxi Zhang is Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation at the City University of Hong Kong.