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Liberal humanism can be defined as a philosophical and literary movement in which man and his capabilities are the central concern. It can also be defined as a system of historically changing views that recognizes the value of the human being as an individual and his right to liberty and happiness.

10 tenets of liberal humanism

  1. Good literature is timeless, transcendent and speaks to what is constant in human nature.
  2. Literary text contains its own meaning (not in subordinate reference to a sociopolitical, literary-historical, or autobiographical context). Close readings are meant to be "unseen", i.e. analysed distinct from considering context.
  3. Text therefore studied in isolation without ideological assumptions or political conditions—goal of close verbal analysis to 'see the object as in itself it really is' (Matthew Arnold pace Kant)
  4. Human nature unchanging—continuity valued over innovation
  5. Individuality as essence securely possessed by each 'transcendent subject' distinct from forces of society, experience, and language
  6. Purpose of literature to enhance life in a non-programmatic (non-propagandistic) way
  7. Form and content fused organically in literature
  8. 'Sincerity' resides within the language of literature, noted by avoidance of cliché or inflated style so that the distance/difference between words and things is abolished
  9. 'Showing' valued over 'telling'—concrete enactment better than expository explanation
  10. Criticism should interpret the text unencumbered by theorizing, by preconceived ideas—must trust instead to direct, empirical, sensory encounter text (Lockean legacy)

(from this blog)