Although featuring the work of the artist and philosopher, Alexander Curtis, the aim of Reloading Humanism is to go beyond the endeavor of a single individual. Reaching out into the web of life, “Fellows” have been found whose work, taken together, can be seen as constituting the beginnings of an answer to the fundamental question of our age: “Is it possible for us to live happy and fulfilled lives without placing an undue burden on our environment, without exploiting other human beings and without jeopardizing the quality of life of those who come after us?”

This is not only the question of our age, it is THE QUESTION that since The Enlightenment has been hovering over humanity with the answer deciding whether the modern world has a future or not. Reloading Humanism is conceived in the spirit that we may, if we take heart and pull ourselves together, be able to work towards the beginnings of a positive answer. To access the „People“ page of Reloading Humanism, click on the glass prism top left.

All the people featured at Reloading Humanism show that there are other ways of doing things and that we can escape the destructive corset of consumer culture and the centuries-old habit of taking more than we give. This however assumes that we see ourselves in a way that accords us these abilities. Abandoning the staged and superficial cynicism of the present, we must return to a more Renaissance orientated view of our place in the world and see ourselves as beings that, depending on one’s beliefs, either God or nature has singled out and endowed with unique abilities and along with them, a unique set of responsibilities that it is our task to address.

This widely spread, all-embracing aspect is balanced by a regional focus on the Wachau Valley in Austria, where three Reloading Humanism humanists live. Introduced in a manner that offers tips to would be visitors and prompts residents to look again at the things around them, these regional facets often result in something that one might call „applied philosophy“ and are an instance of „responsible tourism“.

At Reloading Humanism, the purpose of life is seen as being to believe, search and create and so go beyond ourselves and reach out towards that which is good. This is expounded in essay form under the heading „One World Pragmatism“ with the term reflecting the position’s ultimate derivation from the philosophy of the Greek philosopher, Parmenides. An introduction to Parmenides and his relevance to the modern world forms the content of the first of a series of Reloading Humanism guides on philosophy, history, art history and archaeology (see the Alexander Curtis „Writing“ page). The question of whether there is, or is not, a life after death is left open and the humanism here articulated distances itself from all forms of humanism which are dogmatically atheist. One World Pragmatism is thus intended as something that can be adopted by both believers and atheists alike.