Humanism is one of the most important movements
in Western civilization and one of the most
powerful influences on the modern world.
There are many philosophical, scientific,
and religious schools that identify with
humanism, at least in a broad sense. The
conjunction of the term secular with humanism
helps narrow its focus and meaning, and enables
us to distinguish it from other forms of
humanism, particularly religious humanism.
Origins of Humanism. Its origins can be seen in early Greek philosophy,
especially in efforts to develop a theoretical
philosophical and scientific outlook on nature,
the emphasis on man's rationality, and the
conviction that the good life was achievable
by the exercise of human powers and the fulfillment
of human nature. Protagoras stands out as
a humanist, in view of his statement that
"man is the measure of all things."
However, humanistic strains can be seen in
other Greek philosophers: the Sophists, who
attacked conventional morality and sought
new standards, and Socrates and Plato, who
rejected the Homeric myths and sought to
base ethics on reason.
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics has been taken
as a model of humanistic ethics, in which
the life of practical wisdom and the fulfillment
of virtue and excellence are developed. Roman
philosophy also expressed humanist values:
this was especially true of Epicureanism
(Epicurus and Lucretius), Stoicism (Epictetus
and Marcus Aurelius), and Skepticism (Carneades,
Pyrrho, and Sextus Empiricus).
Humanism was eclipsed during the Dark Ages
when faith dominated and men vainly looked
outside of themselves to a deity for salvation.
It reappeared with the discovery of the works
of Aristotle in the late Middle Ages and
especially during the Renaissance, when there
was a turning away from the Bible back to
the pagan or classical virtues and an effort
to secularize morality. Here, humanism was
a literary as well as a philosophical movement.
It emphasized that the good life and happiness
were possible and that earthly pleasures
were not to be condemned. Gianozzo Manetti,
Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola
were philosophical humanists. They emphasized
the dignity of man, his capacity for freedom,
and the need for tolerance. Desiderius Erasmus
is especially noted for his defense of religious
tolerance.
Development of Humanism. It was with the development of modern science
and philosophy that humanism has come into
full bloom. Indeed, there is a tendency,
particularly by its critics, to identify
humanism, especially secular humanism, with
modernism. There is some justification for
this, since, perhaps more than any other
movement, humanism expresses the outlook
and values of the modern world.
Many thinkers helped to bring the modern
outlook into being. For example, there were
Michel de Montaigne, who expressed both skeptical
and humanist values, and Benedict Spinoza,
who defended freethought, rejected biblical
revelation as a source of ethics, paved the
way for a new science of nature, and attempted
to naturalize religion by identifying God
with nature.
The first major protest of modern humanists
is the defense of free inquiry against ecclesiastical
and political censorship. Hence, humanism
and freethought are closely identified in
the modern world. The fate of Giordano Bruno
and Galileo are central to the humanist call
for freedom.
It was the development of the scientific
method and its application to nature that
brought a decisive intellectual influence
to bear on humanist thought. Humanists wish
to use reason (as with Rene Descartes) or
experience (Sir Francis Bacon, John Locke,
David Hume) to account for natural processes
and discover causal laws. This means that
appeals to the authority of religious revelation
and tradition are illegitimate as a source
of knowledge.
The scientific revolution began with the
impressive development of physics, astronomy,
and natural philosophy. The Enlightment,
or Age of Reason, is testimony to humanist
efforts to extend the methods of reason and
science to society and man. In the l8th and
19th centuries there was confidence that
with the spread of reason, science, and education,
human beings could be liberated from superstition
and build a better world. Deists were critical
of clericalism and appeals to biblical revelation,
and they sought to develop a religion of
nature and reason (Voltaire, Denis Diderot).
Also in the modern period, ideals of democracy
emerged. Humanists defended the ideals of
freedom against a repressive government or
church, insisted on tolerance for opposing
viewpoints, and .championed a belief in the
right of free conscience and dissent. Utilitarians
(Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and John Stuart
Mill) continued these trends in the 19th
century.
Secular Humanism. Along with the growth of humanism has been
the growth of secularist ideals. The term
secular refers to worldly, temporal values
in contrast with spiritual and sacred ones.
The modern world has witnessed the widespread
secularization of life. This means first
that morality could be freed from religious
authorities. For the virtues of faith, hope,
and charity, or an exacerbated sense of sin,
the values and ideals of reason, freedom,
happiness, and justice would be substituted.
Second, it involved an effort to limit ecclesiastical
control over the various institutions of
society, especially the state, the schools,
and the economy. Fear of an established church
led to the principle of the separation of
church and state, embodied in the First Amendment
to the American Constitution. Thomas Jefferson,
Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison,
and other leaders of the American Revolution
were deeply influenced by secular and humanist
ideals.
Characteristics of Secular Humanism.Secular Humanism has been used however, particularly
by its critics but also by its proponents,
to distinguish it explicitly from any theistic
versions. It combines three main characteristics:
(1) a method of inquiry, (2) an outlook,
(3) a set of values.
1.Method of Inquiry. Secular humanism is committed to the scientific method of inquiry. Broadly conceived, this is the hypothetical-deductive
method, in which hypotheses are introduced,
deductively elaborated, and experimentally
tested (directly or indirectly) by the evidence.
Under this interpretation the scientific
method is not some esoteric art, open only
to a narrow coterie of experts; nor does
it lay down fixed rules of investigation.
Rather, it is continuous with ordinary common
sense or critical intelligence, and it involves
the controlled use of the methods of inquiry
that are successful in other areas of life
as well.
All human knowledge is considered fallible,
and all claims to ultimate or absolute truth
questionable. Hypotheses should be taken
as tentative, for even well-established principles
may be later modified in the light of new
evidence or more comprehensive explanations.
Thus the scientific method entails some degree
of skepticism, but this is not negative;
for humanists believe that a significant
body of knowledge can be arrived at by scientific
Inquiry.
Nevertheless, secular humanism is receptive
to a wide range of human experiences, including
art, morality, poetry, and feeling. But it
is unwilling to declare any belief to be
validated by private, intuitive, mystical,
or subjective appeals-until, that is, it
can pass the tests of inter-subjective confirmation.
If it cannot, then the only reasonable position
is to suspend judgment until such time as
it can marshal evidence for a hypothesis.
2.Humanist Outlook. In an outlook that is sometimes called naturalistic or scientific humanism, nature is intelligible to human reason
and explainable by means of causal hypotheses.
The modern secular humanist outlook thus
has been profoundly influenced by the picture
of the universe developed by the various
sciences. Evolution is considered central:
the universe, including different forms of
life, has evolved over an extended period
of time. The human species is not separate
and distinct from the laws governing other
processes in nature. One may dispute how
evolution occurs and the mechanisms involved,
but not that it occurs. Physical-chemical
processes are primary in the executive order
of nature, but nature cannot be reduced simply
to its material components without dealing
with the levels at which matter is organized
and functions.
Secular humanists are dubious of any effort
to divide nature into two realms or to read
in a supernatural, occult, or nouminal reality.
At the very least, they bid us to suspend
judgment until such time as evidence for
claims about the transcendent can be responsibly
examined and verified Appeals to alleged
revelations as the basis of religious truth
are highly questionable. Basically, secular
humanists are atheists, agnostics, or skeptics,
and they do not wish to deny that fact. They
are dubious of any belief in human immortality
or any hope of salvation or an afterlife.
There is no evidence for the claim that the
soul is separable from the body. All efforts
in physical or parapsychological research
thus far have been either meaningless or
inconclusive in claiming to prove post or
prior existence of a discarnate soul.
3. Humanist Values. Secular humanism expresses a set of values. Indeed, some humanists consider ethical
humanism to be its most important defining
characteristic. They hold that moral values
are relative to human experience or human
nature and need not be derived from any theological
or metaphysical foundations. Implicit in
this is the idea that ethics (like science)
is or can be an autonomous field of inquiry.
The good life is attainable by human beings;
and the task of reason is to discover the
conditions that enable us to realize happiness.
There is some controversy among humanists
as to whether happiness involves hedonic
pleasure primarily or the satisfaction of
our needs, creative actualization, and moral
growth. Nevertheless, a whole line of philosophers
from Aristotle down through Spinoza, Mill,
Dewey, and others have agreed that ethical
choices, at least in part, are amenable to
reflective wisdom. One should deliberate
before making one's choices. Value judgments
are based upon various criteria: means-end
analyses, an appraisal of the costs of our
actions, judging the relevance of various
proposals by examining their consequences
in concrete situations.
Humanism & Morality. There is some disagreement between those
who have argued that the main test of moral principles should be teleological-that is, we should
judge moral rules by whether they fulfill
our long-range ends-or whether they are deontological
(following Immanuel Kant) and have some independent
moral status. Most humanists argue that we
should take into account both sets of data-values
and moral principles-though the most important
test is consequential and involves an examination
of competing claims within a situation. Moral
absolutism thus is rejected as dogmatic and
repressive. This position has been labeled
"situation ethics" by its critics
and attacked as "relativistic,"
implying a breakdown of all moral standards.
Humanists deny this, demonstrating that they
believe in moral standards but insisting
that these grow out of reflective inquiry.
They would consider themselves to be objective
rather than subjective relativists.
On the contrary, they maintain that although
the religious literature expresses moral
insights, it is not adequate to the contemporary
situation, for it is based upon an earlier
(nomadic and agricultural) level of moral
development. (1) Given the fatherhood of
God, any number of moral injunctions may
follow: the permissibility of monogamy as
against polygamy, or vice versa, and differing
views on divorce, abortion, war, and peace.
(2) Moral obligations need not depend upon
divine sanction. Indeed, to do something
because of God's commandments and a consequent
fear of punishment is hardly moral; rather,
it tends to impede the development of a mature
moral consciousness. (3) A whole series of
modern critics-Friediche Nietzsche, Marx,
Freud, and others-have shown that religion
may seek to censor truth, repress sexuality,
oppose progress, exacerbate human impotence,
offer solace in place of efforts needed to
ameliorate the human condition. "No
deity will save us, we must save ourselves,"
says the Humanist Manifesto II. We are responsible
for our own destiny; we cannot look outside
ourselves and our society for succor or salvation.
Courage & Knowledge. The two key humanist virtues are courage and knowledge, not dependence and ignorance. Humanistic
ethics focuses on human freedom. It encourages
individual growth and development. It focuses
on the need for control of our destiny, a
willingness to take responsibility, individually
and collectively, for our plans and projects,
to enter into the world, not merely to understand
or adore it, but to bend it to suit our will.
It emphasizes independence and audacity.
Prometheus is the mythical "saint"
of humanists because he challenged the gods,
stealing fire and endowing man with the arts
of civilization.
Life presents us with possibilities and opportunities.
The meaning of life grows out of what we
discover in our own mortal existence; it
emerges in our acts of free choice. Man is
a being that exists for himself. In some
measure he is able to define his own reality;
he is in a process of becoming. The salient
virtue here is autonomy. Concomitant with
this, however, is the recognition that no
man can live in total isolation; we are social
animals. Among the most enduring of human
goods are those that we share with others.
Most of our projects involve other persons.
Self-interest is not the totality of a person's
life. Some form of altruism is essential
to our very being.
Human Equality and Social Justice. Thus a concern for equality and justice
emerges. Humanists agree with the religious
tradition insofar as it supports the idea
of the brotherhood of man-but not because
God commands it but because moral reflection
recognizes that we have responsibilities
to other human beings. Each individual is
to count as equal in dignity and value, as
an end in himself, entitled to moral consideration;
that is the basis of our conception of human
rights.
The conflicts between self-interest and the
social good provide the classical moral paradox.
For secular humanists, perhaps there are
no ultimate solutions for some of the dilemmas
we encounter in life. Only a reflective decision
can best weigh in balance competing values
and principles, the appeal of self-interest
with the needs and demands of others. Although
there are some guidelines, what we do depends
in the last analysis upon the context of
analysis.
Humanism is broad enough to allow some differences
in ideology and politics, after stressing
individual freedom. In being committed to
a method of inquiry, it recognizes that political
programs and platforms may change; however
, humanists refuse to compromise the freedom
principle or sacrifice moral principles and
reason to achieve so-called utopian ends.
Late-20th-century secular humanists (especially
in Humanist Manifesto II) maintain an additional
moral principle: our responsibility to humankind
as a whole. We have an obligation to do what
we can to ameliorate the condition of humanity
on the globe. Given modern technology and
intercommunication, one world is a reality
for contemporary man. Thus humanists seek
to improve human existence, but they wish
to do so by democratic methods of persuasion,
tolerance, negotiation, and compromise (instead
of revolutionary violence or class warfare).
Some have identified humanism with humanitarianism,
that is, a concern with general human happiness.
But though this characteristic is necessary
to define contemporary humanism, it is not
sufficient; for theists may also express
a humanitarian concern.
Secular humanism has been identified recently,
perhaps uncritically, with humanistic psychology
(Abraham Maslow, Erich Fromm, Carl Rogers).
The influence of existentialism and phenomenology
is prominent in secular humanism, but humanists
reject behavioristic psychology as dehumanizing
to man. Humanistic psychology tends to view
all things human as good. The realization
of human nature, the satisfaction of basic
needs (including sexual fulfillment, self
-respect, love, belonging to a community),
and human growth are the highest goods. Thus,
humanists share a set of moral virtues with
classical Greco-Roman humanists. However,
we have witnessed tendencies to neoromanticism,
in its focus on immediate experience and
its de-emphasis of developed cognitive skills
or the role of intelligence. Such a form
of humanism has been appealed to in order
to object to many abuses of technology. But
it may represent a return to an early idyllic
view of nature and life, and even allow a
reintroduction of spiritualistic transcendence
or the paranormal.
World View. Secular humanism, as distinct from all other
forms, emphasizes the use of science and
critical intelligence in solving human problems. It has confidence in man's ability to apply
science and technology for the betterment
of human life; it is skeptical about the
existence of occult, paranormal, or transcendent
realities. Although it is the modern-day
expression of classical atheism in what it
rejects, it also expresses a positive normative
concern for developing constructive ethical
values appropriate to the present situation
of man on this planet. It is uncompromising
in its commitment to democracy, and it considers
human freedom the highest human value.
Famous Humanists. Isaac Asimov, Stephen J. Gould, Corliss
Lamont, Edward O. Wilson, Paul Kurtz, James
"The Amazing" Randi, Steve Allen,
James Watson, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins,
Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sagan, Mark Twain, Bertrand
Russel, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Green Ingersoll,
and many, many others.
Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Religion.
1987. Eliade, M., Ed. MacMillan Publishing,
Co., NY
Opposing Views Christianity
Islam
Judaism Humanism Deception -- I try to be even-handed in my listings,
but this one is so ridiculous, I almost didn't
put it up. Can you say illogical? By the
way, no one has ever been killed in the "name
of Humanism". Secular Humanism Critique -- Better than the former link, but I think
that the webmaster is Republican and has
a "thing" for Congressman Sander
Levin.
