Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress. In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism, and today humanism typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world. 

Gellius says that in his day humanitas is commonly used as a synonym for philanthropy – or kindness and benevolence toward one's fellow human being. Gellius maintains that this common usage is wrong, and that model writers of Latin, such as Cicero and others, used the word only to mean what we might call "humane" or "polite" learning, or the Greek equivalent Paideia. Gellius became a favorite author in the Italian Renaissance, and, in fifteenth-century Italy, teachers and scholars of philosophy, poetry, and rhetoric were called and called themselves "humanists". Modern scholars, however, point out that Cicero (106 – 43 BCE), who was most responsible for defining and popularizing the term humanitas, in fact frequently used the word in both senses, as did his near contemporaries. For Cicero, a lawyer, what most distinguished humans from brutes was speech, which, allied to reason, could (and should) enable them to settle disputes and live together in concord and harmony under the rule of law. Thus humanitas included two meanings from the outset and these continue in the modern derivative, humanism, which even today can refer to both humanitarian benevolence and to scholarship. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What Italians referred to themselves as humanists?
2. Who in Italy went by the moniker of humanists?
3. 
Q2:
1. What was the lifespan of Cicero?
2. During which years did Cicero live?
3. 
Q3:
1. What was Cicero's occupation?
2. What was the profession of Cicero?
3. 
Q4:
1. What did Cicero refer to as the difference between man and beasts?
2. How did Cicero differentiate between men and beasts?
3. 
Q5:
1. According to Cicero, what was the advantage of speech?
2. What does speech help us do, in the words of Cicero?
3. 
Q6:
1. What was Gellius like?
2. How did Gellius act?
3. 
Q7:
1. What did Gellius say was a nice way to be?
2. What is a synonym for philanthropy, according to Gellius?
3. 
Q8:
1. What did Gellius turn into?
2. What did Gellius turn out to be?
3. 
Q9:
1. When was Gellius a favorite author of the Italian Renaissance?
2. During what time period did the Italian Renaissance have great respect for Gellius?
3. 
Q10:
1. How many definitions of humanitas are there?
2. What is the number of definitions of humanitas that are discussed?
3. 
Q11:
1. Does humanism consider God?
2. Is God a topic of interest for the humanists?
3. 
Q12:
1. 
2. 
3. 
