8

Scott Palmer

In the belly of the hotel

Michelle Davis

The very term humanism has come to signify a number of concepts, from the cultural trend initiated in 14th century Italy focused on the study of humanities to any system of thought or any initiatives and actions that promote human interests and human values. The foundation of any form of humanism is the understanding of human nature.

Today, we are witnessing and participating in the most spectacular achievements of science, technology and exploration that are impacting the way humans relate to nature, to other humans and to themselves. And yet these rapid transformations are not free of tensions and counter-tendencies. Expeditions to Mars take place alongside flat-earth conferences and the same human impulse that promotes progress and welfare is also responsible for climate change and the depredation of natural resources and habitats. We live in a paradoxical moment in which technological advancement is shadowed by new forms of illiteracy, and the promise of an interconnected peaceful global community still leads to new wars, new divisions and new forms of intolerance.

Voyages wishes to capture the reactions of intellectuals and artists to these tensions and opposing tendencies by providing a forum for responses and reflections on contemporary human endeavors in all of their diversity, complex manifestations and disquieting aspects.

ISSN 2283-6578

8

Scott Palmer

Voyages: The Journal of Contemporary Humanism ( ISSN 2283-6578)

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