Cat's Cradle Philosophy—Humanism Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

By that [Bokonon] means that a karass ignores national, institutional, occupational, familial, and class boundaries. (2.2)

Karass is an inherently humanist concept in that it ignores all those social boundaries listed above. The only requirement to entering a karass is to be a human. Oh, or a particularly intelligent robot. That'd be cool.

Quote #2

Dr. Breed obeyed, stepping back to read the banner's message. "Peace on Earth!" he read out loud heartily. (17.6)

Ah, Christmas time. It's the one time of year where everyone is a humanist, minus bargain shoppers, of course.

Quote #3

There was a framed photograph on [Hoenikker's] desk. Its back was toward me and I ventured a guess as to whose picture it was. "His wife?"

"No."

"One of his children?"

"No." (27.17-20)

Felix Hoenikker provides a convenient antithesis to humanism. If you ever want to decide if a character is or isn't a humanist in the novel, just compare them to old Dr. Hoenikker.