The article is devoted to the study of the evolution of the term «humanism». It is noted that humanism is a rather ambiguous term and domestic scientific thought treats it ambiguously. It is emphasized that humanism, as a cultural and historical phenomenon, has undergone a complex path of evolutionary development, taking various forms and shades. Each historical era brought its own, time-appropriate content to this concept. The author points to the fact that humanism as ideological movement is born in ancient times, but the term itself began to be used in the philosophical lexicon only in the nineteenth century and represented a peculiar type of mindset, a unique moral principle that began to dominate the spiritual sphere, whereas in the twentieth century it encompassed all spheres of society. It is concluded that at the present stage of civil development, where man has become a prisoner of the global socio-anthropological crisis, humanism should be turned into an ideology on a planetary scale.