What is Humanism? |
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"My country is the world and my religion is to do good."
—Thomas Paine
"There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet . . . . What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
History
The Origins of Humanism
Humanism originated in the West with the Greek philosopher Socrates, and in the East with the Chinese philosopher Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius) about 2,500 years ago. Socrates felt that in order to develop sound values people should learn how to think for themselves. Kung Fu Tzu believed that "A society ought to work for the benefit of all its members rather than be used merely as a pretext for the excesses of its rulers," and that "virtue means to love one another." (Paul Strathern, Confucius in 90 Minutes, pages 15 and 19. For those looking for details concerning Confucian humanism, please see links two and three.)
The Core Beliefs of Humanism
Humanism has two core beliefs, with two important implications. The core beliefs are:
- People should learn to think for themselves, not just blindly accept what they are told by figures of authority. This is because authority figures too often have an agenda of their own, frequently the enhancement of their own wealth or power. And even when this is not the case, authorities are themselves often uninformed or confused.
- Values are based in the human person. In order to know whether a given course of conduct is meaningful or right, we can ask ourselves whether it promotes the maintenance or development of the normal capabilities of human beings, such as thinking, feeling, and physical health.
The two important implications are:
- People should try hard to get the facts before forming opinions or commiting to values.
- People should base their values primarily upon the sacredness of life.
The idea that all people are much the same everywhere, and are equally entitled to justice and opportunity regardless of race or gender, owes much to Humanism.
Humanism and Religion
Humanism is a down-to-earth philosophical movement that represents a turn toward the satisfaction of human needs, both material and spiritual, and the fulfillment of human potential, here and now. Humanism therefore lacks much interest in the supernatural and theological, or in an afterlife.
This doesn't mean that Humanists are necessarily atheists. Though it may come as a shock to some, there are many religious Humanists. (Christians and Humanists alike would do well to keep in mind that there was a time when Christian thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas consciously incorporated the humanism of Aristotle into Christianity, and that eminent Humanist thinkers like Erasmus were Christians.) Linking religious and secular humanists is the belief that nothing should be accepted on faith. There must always be good evidence for beliefs, religious or otherwise. This is the most fundamental tenet of rationalism. But nothing specific to Humanism precludes belief in God. Indeed, the controversy concerning the existence of God is far less relevant to values than ordinarily supposed.
Humanism and Science
While sympathetic to the sciences, and indeed very supportive of them, many contemporary Humanists nevertheless reject the leveling reductionistic materialism that some of those in the scientific community advocate. This is because they believe instead in emergentism, the view that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts in the natural world generally, and especially in the case of the human mind. Indeed, we would go so far as to say that anyone who takes exception to emergentism is no genuine Humanist at all.
Summary: The Essence of Humanism
In summary, then: Humanism is an anti-authoritarian philosophy, that emphasizes the importance of reason and the indispensability of both evidence and compassion for others in the formation of values. Contemporary humanistic morality judges acts primarily on the basis of their affect upon other human beings. Humanists believe that the purposes of life are found in the meeting of human needs —intellectual, emotional, and spiritual—and in the fulfillment of human capabilities, mental and physical.
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