An Updated Humanism
A new anthology offers a critical reread of the humanist tradition. In an attempt to give formulation to a sustainable humanism, a number of scholars explore various forms of subjectivity and critique within the humanist tradition.
Another Humanism – Subjectivity and Critique is edited by Carin Franzén, professor of Literature at Stockholm University, and Nan Gerdes, lecturer in international higher education at the University of Copenhagen.
Another Humanism is published by Stockholm University Press.
It is an edited volume of Stockholm Studies in Culture and Aesthetics, a peer-reviewed series of monographs and edited volumes published by Stockholm University Press.
The authors reinvestigate and seek to revise the tradition of humanism by examining the question of what makes a human in the early modern period, from Michel de Montaigne to Immanuel Kant.
While the problem of human distinctiveness extends far beyond early modernity and has preoccupied thinkers and writers throughout history, it has often been framed through arguments for human uniqueness that reinforce claims of human superiority over other earthly creatures.
Against this background, the volume offers a critical rereading of the humanist tradition and demonstrates its continued relevance today. Engaging with contemporary posthumanist and post-anthropocentric debates – prompted by climate change and the epoch known as the Anthropocene – the book explores various forms of subjectivity and critique within humanism that speak directly to today’s most pressing questions.
The fourteen chapters, together with an introduction by the two editors, examine the diversity and critical potential of early modern subjectivity, addressing issues such as the relationship between humans and animals, early forms of “machine psychology,” and the significance of the emotions for reason.
By invoking the term another humanism, the book highlights how many of the historical texts under discussion occupy an ambivalent position both inside and outside humanism. Bringing these perspectives to light, the anthology aims to advance a broader, less anthropocentric conception of humanism.
The volume will be of significant interest to scholars of early modern literature and philosophy, as well as to researchers concerned with humanist traditions, subjectivity, and the question of the human in both historical and contemporary contexts.
How to access the book
At the Stockholm University Press website you can download an ePub or pdf-file that allows you to read the book online or access it on multiple devices. You may also also order a print copy of the book:
Stockholm Studies in Culture and Aesthetics (SiCA) (ISSN 2002-3227) is a peer-reviewed series of monographs and edited volumes published by Stockholm University Press. SiCA strives to provide a broad forum for research on culture and aesthetics, including the disciplines of Art History, Heritage Studies, Curating Art, History of Ideas, Literary Studies, Musicology, and Performance and Dance Studies. In terms of subjects and methods, the orientation is wide: critical theory, cultural studies and historiography, modernism and modernity, materiality and mediality, performativity and visual culture, children’s literature and children’s theatre, queer and gender studies.
Last updated: 2026-05-22
Source: Department of Culture and Aesthetics