Humanism is a broad category of active ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationalism. Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of human nature, suggesting that solutions to our social and cultural problems cannot be parochial.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to humanism:
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Essence of humanism
- Main article: Humanism
Humanism entails a commitment to the search for truth and morality through human means in support of human interests. In focusing on the capacity for self-determination, humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural, or divinely revealed texts.
Supports
- applying logic to the evidence
- scientific skepticism
- scientific method
Rejects
- blindly accepting unsupported beliefs
- revelation
- mysticism
- tradition
- authoritarianism
- extreme skepticism
- faith
Manifestos and statements setting out humanist viewpoints
Humanism asserts that knowledge of right and wrong is based on our best understanding of our individual and joint interests, rather than stemming from a transcendental or arbitrarily local source.
Forms of humanism
- Humanism (the life stance)
- Secular humanism
- Religious humanism
- Christian humanism
- Christian existential humanism
- Humanistic Judaism
History of humanism
- Main article: History of humanism
- Greek roots
- Democracy
- Free thinking
- Greek philosophy
- Renaissance humanism
- 1853 - Humanistic Religious Association formed in London
- 1929 - First Humanist Society of New York
- 1930 - Humanism: A New Religion published
- 1933 - Humanist Manifesto published
- 1941 - American Humanist Association founded
General concepts pertaining to and embraced by Humanism (the life stance)
Agnosticism – Art – Atheism – Common good – Compassion – Creativity – Ecosphere (global ecosystem) – Empiricism – Ethical – Ethics – Evolution – Evolutionary Humanism – Experience – Experimentation – Freethought – Human dignity – Humanitarianism – Human rights – Imagination – Justice – Knowledge – Life stance – Nature – Non-theistic – Observation – Personal liberty – Rationality – Rationalism – Reason – Scientific method – Scientific skepticism – Secular – Social responsibility
Organizations
- Humanist International
- Humanist Movement
- Humanist Party
- Institute for Humanist Studies
- International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)
- Rationalist International
- Freethought Association
- Council for Secular Humanism
- International Humanist and Ethical Union
- Rationalist International
- Institute for Humanist Studies
- American Humanist Association
- British Humanist Association
- Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian Humanist Association
- Humanist Society of Scotland
- Humanist Association of Canada
- Humanist Association of Ireland
- Sidmennt, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association
For more organizations see Category:Humanist associations
Humanism lists
- Main article: List of humanism topics
Humanists
Leaders in humanism
Some people who have made a major impact on the development or advancement of humanism:
- Charles Francis Potter
- Julian Huxley
- John Dewey
- Albert Einstein
- Thomas Mann
- F.C.S. Schiller
- Raymond B. Bragg
- Roy Wood Sellars
- Isaac Asimov
- Kurt Vonnegut
Other notable humanists
Phillip Adams – Steve Allen – Sir Arthur C. Clarke – Richard Dawkins – Gareth Evans – Richard Feynman – Tim Flannery – E. M. Forster (see in particular "What I believe") – William Hayden – Julian Huxley – Thomas Jefferson – Paul Kurtz – Philip Nitschke – Philip Pullman – Gene Roddenberry – Bertrand Russell – Carl Sagan – John Ralston Saul – Michael Shermer – Peter Singer – Barbara Smoker – Ibn Warraq – Robyn Williams – E. O. Wilson
See also
- Antihumanism
- Humanistic psychology
- Social psychology
- Religious freedom — freedom of religion and belief
Related philosophies
- Empiricism
- Extropianism
- Freethought
- Infinitism
- Objectivism
- Philosophical naturalism
- Pragmatism
- Rationalism
- Rationalist movement
- Secularism
External links
Introductions to humanism
- [1]www.sterlingharwood.com and Sterling Harwood, "Why Be Moral: A Definition and Defense of Humanism," in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000), pp. 84-85.
- What Is Humanism? from the American Humanist Association
- Humanism: Why, What, and What For, In 882 Words
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Civic Humanism
- Catholic Encyclopedia article on Renaissance Humanism
Humanist manifestos and declarations
- Humanist Manifesto I (1933)
- Humanist Manifesto II (1973)
- A Secular Humanist Declaration (1980)
- A Declaration of Interdependence (1988)
- IHEU Minimum Statement on Humanism (1996)
- HUMANISM: Why, What, and What For, In 882 Words (1996)
- Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for a New Planetary Humanism (2000) condensed version
- The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles
- Amsterdam Declaration 2002 (July, 2002) - the official defining statement of World Humanism, as endorsed by the IHEU
- Humanist Manifesto III (Humanism And Its Aspirations) (2003)
Organizations
- American Humanist Association
- British Humanist Association
- Humanist Society of Scotland
- Center for Inquiry International
- Chicago humanist wiki pages
- Council for Secular Humanism
- The Church of Spiritual Humanism
- Institute for Humanist Studies
- Humanist Association of Manitoba
- Humanist Association of Canada
- Humanist Movement — Europe
- Humanist Movement — German
- Humanist Movement — Italy
- Humanist n.e.t. — German/ English
- Humanist Association of N. Ireland
- Virtual Sociedade Humanista Mineira
- Humanist Association of Ireland
- HUUmanists, Unitarian Universalist publishers of the journal Religious Humanism
- International Humanist and Ethical Union
- International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation
- Norwegian Humanist Association
- Rationalist International
- Romanian association Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience — Romanian/ English
- Freethought Association of West Michigan
Web articles
- Sterling Harwood, "Why Be Moral? A Definition and Defense of Humanism."
- New Humanist British magazine from the Rationalist Press Association (RPA)
- Nanovirus — A humanist perspective on politics, technology and culture
Web books
and Thinking And Moral Problems, Religions And Their Source, Purpose, and Developing A Universal Religion, four Parts of a Wikibook.
Web directories
- Open Directory Project — Humanism directory category
- Yahoo — Humanism directory category
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity
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