Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.The life stance of Humanism - guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience - encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance.
This document is part of an ongoing effort to manifest in clear and positive terms the conceptual boundaries of Humanism, not what we must believe but a consensus of what we do believe. It is in this sense that we affirm the following:
Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. Humanists find that science is the best method for determining this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial technologies. We also recognize the value of new departures in thought, the arts, and inner experience - each subject to analysis by critical intelligence.
Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change. Humanists recognize nature as self-existing. We accept our life as all and enough, distinguishing things as they are from things as we might wish or imagine them to be. We welcome the challenges of the future, and are drawn to and undaunted by the yet to be known.
Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Humanists ground values in human welfare shaped by human circumstances, interests, and concerns and extended to the global ecosystem and beyond. We are committed to treating each person as having inherent worth and dignity, and to making informed choices in a context of freedom consonant with responsibility.
Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals. We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death. Humanists rely on the rich heritage of human culture and the lifestance of Humanism to provide comfort in times of want and encouragement in times of plenty.
Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.
Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness. Progressive cultures have worked to free humanity from the brutalities of mere survival and to reduce suffering, improve society, and develop global community. We seek to minimize the inequities of circumstance and ability, and we support a just distribution of nature's resources and the fruits of human effort so that as many as possible can enjoy a good life. Humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views. We work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature's integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner. Thus engaged in the flow of life, we aspire to this vision with the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals. The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone.
* Humanist Manifesto is a trademark of the American Humanist Association - (c) 2003 American Humanist Association
The original Humanist Manifesto was published on May 1, 1933
Edwin Henry Wilson, an editor and in 1933 the youngest signer of the original Humanist Manifesto
May 1, 1933:
The day the organized Humanist
movement went public.
With the publication of the first Humanist Manifesto, Humanism became visible, its purpose clear. In a time of despair, Humanism offered a new and hopeful vision.
The world was in a desperate condition. Adolf Hitler was three
months in office, his followers turning to despotism to relieve them of their
social misery. In America, thousands were unemployed, the economy was
collapsing, hope was low. The Humanists stepped up and presented a way forward.
The 34 signers knew they were not merely continuing an old point
of view. They were forging a new philosophy out of the materials
of the modern world.
Their ranks included secular philosophers, ministers of
religion, a rabbi, an atheist (Harry Elmer Barnes), a denier of atheism (Curtis
Reese), and thinkers who were not averse to the word "God" (John Dewey, John H.
Dietrich.) How could persons differing so profoundly possibly agree
to sign the Manifesto together?
They agreed because they saw what Humanism is: an ethical process
through which we can move above and
beyond the dogmatic beliefs of old religions and denials of them that are
so divisive.
Humanists agree: ethics is based on human experience, and requires no reference at all to
anything supernatural. Like the US Constitution, the Manifesto neither affirms
nor denies any metaphysical claim; its focus is on human behavior.
The time is past for issues of theism; religious emotions and attitudes are
liberated from supernaturalism. Associations exist to fulfill human life. Ethics is a human
enterprise. Experience, not conformity to "revelation", measures the good.
The central task for humanity is the quest for the good life. We
humans are responsible to make real the world of which we dream. To seek the
power to achieve it we must look within humanity, not outside it. In a dark time, Humanism's founders
affirmed humanity's ability to achieve a better world. They call on us to set
intelligence and will to the task.
Since 1933, Humanism has been
thoroughly studied, discussed and developed. It's alive and evolving, yet
Humanism is now a clearly defined, well articulated new worldview, not merely
derivative nor needing to be encumbered by any permanent alliances. It is unique,
fully worthy of the capital "H" recommended by the International Humanist and
Ethical Union, and it needs no adjective.
The language of the original Humanist Manifesto
makes clear that Humanism is not just a mere developing of ideas
already in place. It is radical
rather than reformist - "radical" implying that it reviews issues
from the root. While drawing upon the experience of previous movements such as
rationalism, freethought, atheism, secularism and democracy, Humanism is a
truly new structure of ideas and ideals, a new beginning.
Humanism is not a "Band Aid" approach and
does not seek merely to ameliorate or repair a broken world but to start
afresh, to build the world anew. The
Humanists are out to change the world. Their inventory of resources
refers to intelligence and will and calls upon us to use these to carry
humanity forward to "the world of our dreams," a society in which
life's possibilities are recognized. Human
beings are not doomed from birth "by Adam's sin"; each
individual is honored as caoable of fulfilment in goodness.
The quest for the good life, they said, is the
enduring task held central in humankind. In confidence that humanity has within
itself the resources to move forward to the ideal future, Humanism asserts that
we humans are responsible to make the best possible conceived human future
become real, that we can do it.
The founders' optimism, expressed when America was at a low point, is a
statement of immense significance: while the religious forms and ideas of our
predecessors are demonstrably inadequate, Humanism will point the way
forward to a world of freedom in which people cooperate voluntarily and
intelligently for the good of all.
The existence of all institutions and associations is not
self-justified. All are subject to ongoing evaluation. The measure of
their worth is their contribution to the enhancement of human life. They must
all be directed with a view to making possible a better life not just for few
but for all.
It follows that Humanists firmly reject the Marxist doctrine of historical
determinism, Calvinist teachings of predestination, Judaism's
"chosen people" myth, orthodox Christian "original sin",
and fundamentalists' assumption that the will of God is over all and whatever
happens is in fulfillment of prophecy or the working out of a divine
plan. Life, says Humanism, is what you make it. What exists in this life
is what you get, so deal with it.
Humanists say "No" to the proposition that religious emotions and
attitudes are necessarily associated with belief in the supernatural. Humanists
discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking. The founders of
Humanism refer to this, in the 1933 Humanist Manifesto, as "mental
hygiene."
"By this positive morale and intention Humanism will be guided," they
proclaimed, "and from this perspective and alignment the techniques and
efforts of Humanism will flow."
