The philosophical position is called
humanism.
Herr Mann's classic tome Die Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain) is a brilliant book which offers various considerations of it.
On the one hand, you have Leo Naptha, a Jewish jesuit who prioritizes dogmatic viewpoints, and is a parody of the post-structuralists who took sentiment out of the equation to invoke belief in how things
should be. On the other hand, you have Settembrini who represents the spirit of enlightenment — the belief in human decision-making as a cure for the ills of society — then in crisis during the early 20th Century on the onset of the Great War.
In the middle is your everyman, Hans Castorp, who the reader is supposed to sympathise with as he goes through a learned process, including falling for aristocratic Madame Chauchet, who represents the great duality of love and pain. If you've seen the Ghibli movie,
The Wind Rises then you know his type as the main character was based on him — a classic tragic figure who just wants to build airplanes but finds his vocation directly involved with Japan's war machine.
But really is good not to
detest those strong, arrogant characters. Take their ideas for yourself and use them knowing when they'll work, and when they won't. Deep down inside they're fearful children whose ego has formed as a barrier to the harshness of their environment.