On Being Human: Interpretations of Humanism from the Renaissance to the Present by Salvatore Puledda, foreword by Mikhail Gorbachev

"We live in a period of transition... the book by Salvatore Puledda...is therefore most timely...makes fascinating reading and I recommend it warmly." -- Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Laureate

"[a] stimulating inquiry...concise, lucid survey...a springboard for thought and action." --Publishers Weekly

Who are we, these fascinating and restless creatures called human beings? Is there a fixed "human nature" predetermining our actions, or does human existence encompass the liberty to make moral choices, to change the direction of our lives and society as a whole? These questions are more than abstract philosophical issues: as events in our world accelerate, each of us must make choices affecting both our own lives and those around us. And agreement about human nature and freedom is far from unanimous every major political and religious movement has answered these questions in their own, often divergent ways.

In this illuminating work, from which readers can draw insights for their own lives, the author poses the central question of what it is to be fully human. Beginning with the Renaissance, he surveys primary sources for such seemingly contradictory approaches as Marxist Humanism (Marx, Engels, etc.), Christian Humanism (Maritain), and Existentialist Humanism (Sartre), as well as critical voices (Heidegger, Lévi-Strauss, Foucault), concluding with New Humanism and Silo's thought, which shows the need for a new and universal humanism that must be, more than an idea or a philosophy, a human attitude, capable of bringing people together while respecting their diversity.

Translated by Andrew Hurley.