Old humanism placed humans at the center of the cosmic order and saw them as essentially rational. It became secularized in the early-to-mid 20th century as secular humanism. Critics argued it was a secular version of theism and reduced humans to biological beings. More recent approaches reject humanism's universalizing and essentializing of humans, instead seeing them as socially constructed and recognizing humanity's potential beyond current social and biological constraints. The question of what obstructs humans from being fully human, versus what institutions define them as human beings, is a key inquiry in rethinking humanism.