Both German and Dutch have two distinct words "Mitmensch" ("medemens") and "Mensch" ("mens"), and the derived adjectives "mitmenschlich" and "menschlich" (and abstract nouns derived from those). In English there is only one adjective to translate both of these: "humane". However, both the German and Dutch compounds with "mit-" ("mede-") specifically highlight the social aspect of being human "together with (others)". I'm not a native English speaker and am struggling to find a good way to translate these words (preserving the distinction, but without having to fall back on a long paraphrase). Is there some way?
In classical Chinese philosophy the word for ethics (or for the core moral values) is 仁義 (rén-yì). The first character, by itself, is often translated as "benevolence" while the second is often translated as "righteousness" (sometimes "propriety"). The translation of "benevolence" is rather awkard, in my opinion; it originates, afaik, in nineteenth century translation and suggests the stuffiness of those interpretations. In German, however, "Mitmenschlichkeit" would be a perfect modern translation.
Some characteristic usages are:
- Die Kirchen riefen zu mehr Solidarität und Mitmenschlichkeit auf
- Mitmenschlichkeit bedeutet auch, sich für die Schwächeren in der Gesellschaft einzusetzen
- Eine mitmenschliche Gesellschaft kümmert sich um ihre Schwächsten
and
- Menschlichkeit und Gerechtigkeit sind die Grundlagen einer gerechten Gesellschaft
- Der Internationale Strafgerichtshof verfolgt Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit
- Irren ist menschlich
