Today, society worries a great deal about the psychological and emotional pain people might suffer under any stress or pressure. We live in a world where people are viewed as primarily vulnerable, rather than robust. We are systematically encouraged to think we need help and advice from experts and professionals for just about everything. Our capacities as human beings are constantly being downplayed and degraded in a misanthropic culture in which human achievement and even knowledge is viewed with suspicion and given a health warning. When humanity is seen like this, it becomes more difficult to trust other people. Professor of Sociology, Frank Furedi illustrates the differences between the putative humanist paradigm and the current vulnerability paradigm we experience today. He discusses the challenge humanists face to humanise personhood and create a more confident society. Filmed at the WORLDbytes studio, this lecture explains why we need to uphold a stronger idea of what humanity has been, is and could be capable of.
