Literary Humanism is a devotion to the humanities or literary culture. Renaissance Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the middle ages with the revival of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to determine for themselves truth and falsehood. Humanism is a philosophy focused upon human means for comprehending reality. 2  Humanists make no claims to possess or have access to supposed transcendent knowledge. 3  Humanism is a philosophy of reason and science in the pursuit of knowledge.