Humanity (virtue)

Humanity is a virtue linked with altruistic ethics derived from the human condition. It signifies human love and compassion towards each other. Humanity differs from mere justice in that there is a level of altruism towards individuals included in humanity more so than in the fairness found in justice. That is, humanity, and the acts of love, altruism, and social intelligence are typically individual strengths while fairness is generally expanded to all. Humanity is one of six virtues that across all cultures. The concept of "humanity" goes back to the development of "humane" or "humanist" philosophy during the Renaissance (with predecessors in 13th-century scholasticism that stressed a concept of basic human dignity inspired by Aristotelianism) and the concept of humanitarianism in the early modern period, resulting in modern notions such as "human rights". Ren (Confucianism) Confucius said that humanity, or “Ren” (仁), is a “love of people” stating “if you want to make a stand, help others make a stand.” That is, the Confucian theory of humanity exemplifies the golden rule. It is so central to Confucian thought that it appears 58 times in the Analects. to the Christian process of seeking God, Confucius teaches seeking Ren to a point of seemingly divine mastery until you are equal to, or better than, your teacher. The Confucian concept of Ren encompasses both love and altruism. Plato and Aristotle both wrote extensively on the subject of virtues, though neither wrote about "humanity" as a virtue, despite highly valuing love and kindness, two of the strengths of humanity. Plato and Aristotle considered "courage, justice, temperance" and "generosity, wit, friendliness, truthfulness, magnificence, and greatness of soul", respectively, to be the virtues. Kindness, altruism, and love are all mentioned in the Bible. Proverbs 19:22 states "the desire of a man is his kindness." On the topic of altruism, emphasis is placed on helping strangers () and the biblical adage "it is better to give than to receive" ().