WHAT IS SECULAR HUMANISM? Secular humanism refers to a branch of humanism that is based on exclusively secular principles. It is often associated with atheism and agnosticism, however, it should be noted that not all atheists and agnostics identify as secular humanists. Secular humanism aims to establish moral principles conducive to the freedom and well-being of humans based on ethical reasoning that is independent of all alleged supernatural sources of morality. It is not a fixed ethical system and even less an ideology itself, but rather a set of general guidelines for the development of a more concrete program to increase the knowledge available to humanity and use this information to further our well-being. Because of its explicit rejection of the supernatural and moral codes based on religious convictions, secular humanist philosophy offers a way to develop an alternative to these traditional conceptions of morality. A COMPREHENSIVE, NONRELIGIOUS LIFESTANCE Secular humanism is comprehensive, touching every aspect of life including issues of values, meaning, and identity. Thus it is broader than atheism, which concerns only the nonexistence of god or the supernatural. Important as that may be, there’s a lot more to life … and secular humanism addresses it. Secular humanism is nonreligious, espousing no belief in a realm or beings imagined to transcend ordinary experience. Secular humanism is a lifestance, or what Council for Secular Humanism founder Paul Kurtz has termed a eupraxsophy: a body of principles suitable for orienting a complete human life. As a secular lifestance, secular humanism incorporates the Enlightenment principle of individualism, which celebrates emancipating the individual from traditional controls by family, church, and state, increasingly empowering each of us to set the terms of his or her own life. A NATURALISTIC PHILOSOPHY Secular humanism is philosophically naturalistic. It holds that nature (the world of everyday physical experience) is all there is, and that reliable knowledge is best obtained when we query nature using the scientific method. Naturalism asserts that supernatural entities like God do not exist, and warns us that knowledge gained without appeal to the natural world and without impartial review by multiple observers is unreliable. A COSMIC OUTLOOK ROOTED IN SCIENCE Secular humanism provides a cosmic outlook—a world-view in the broadest sense, grounding our lives in the context of our universe and relying on methods demonstrated by science. Secular humanists see themselves as undesigned, unintended beings who arose through evolution, possessing unique attributes of self-awareness and moral agency. A CONSEQUENTIALIST ETHICAL SYSTEM Secular humanists hold that ethics is consequential, to be judged by results. This is in contrast to so-called command ethics, in which right and wrong are defined in advance and attributed to divine authority. “No god will save us,” declared Humanist Manifesto II (1973), “we must save ourselves.” Secular humanists seek to develop and improve their ethical principles by examining the results they yield in the lives of real men and women.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 21:57:34 +0000
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