An essay exploring various manifestations of anthropomorphism in history and possible explanations of why it endures.

Recent brain imaging studies support sociobiology’s earlier claims about morality, altruism, and religion being rooted in evolved brain function. Despite these insights, however, neuroscience and sociobiology, like theology, provide incomplete answers to persistent what and why questions regarding the metaphysical aspects of human behavior. This essay addresses some unsettled issues along these lines by combining a priori economics principles with the standard consilience of natural science and moral philosophy.

A central problem of the humanist movement is how best to promote the philosophy of humanism. What can we do to raise the profile of humanism in society? What can be done to identify unaffiliated humanists to bring them into our movement? How can we nurture society in a more humanistic direction? Is it possible to encourage more people to adopt a more rational approach towards problem solving and ethics even if they don’t embrace humanism? And finally, how can we (...) best capitalize on the general interest in a post theist ethical framework? This essay explores new ways of thinking about these recurring problems, focusing on the opportunities and obstacles that challenge our movement, as well as the moral responsibility we hold as humanists to share our philosophy with others. (shrink)

Both within its own borders and in the rest of the world, especially the Middle East, the United States is facing a growing crisis precipitated largely by the increasingly violent clash of fundamentalist religions—both among themselves and with all brands of secularism. At the center of these conflicts is the philosophical concept of the Absolute Truth: the only thing about which there is virtually total agreement among the contending parties, that is to say, almost everyone agrees that there is an (...) Absolute Truth about the way the world is and that they are in exclusive possession of it. For religious fundamentalists the Absolute Truth is their particular dogma and orthodoxy, while for Marxists it is atheistic materialism, and for Postmodernists the Absolute Truth is that there is no Absolute Truth. Needless to say, such beliefs leave virtually no room for negotiation or compromise, especially when the truth is seen as divinely ordained. Thus we find ourselves at a dangerous impasse with regard to politics and other modes of public discourse. How do we progress when everyone is right? (shrink)

Forgiveness is a highly personal act. Only a moral agent can forgive and the only proper object of forgiveness is a moral agent. One trait that is particularly characteristic of moral agents is selfevaluation. It is precisely this activity that is involved in a genuine act of forgiveness. According to Bishop Butler and several other contemporary philosophers, forgiveness involves foreswearing one’s resentment towards another person. Successful forgiveness, for these accounts, essentially involves overcoming oneself. An important part of this self-overcoming involves (...) dissolving resentment. I argue that disowning resentment is a key step along the way towards successful forgiveness. In order to dissolve resentment, an individual must engage in self-reflection and selfevaluation. Frankfurt’s hierarchical theory of intentional agency provides a helpful conceptual apparatus for analyzing the act of forgiveness. (shrink)

The authority of humanism is emphatically not an authority based on intuition, spiritual awakening, personal revelation or epiphanies, scriptural witness of whatever faith, pseudo science, astrology, consensus, endorsements, testimony of enlightened gurus, swamis, pastors, priests, ayatollahs, Buddhist monks, or even justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The central thesis of this essay is to identify the specific authority underlying the humanist claim which states that “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.” (Humanist Manifesto III, Washington, DC: American Humanist Association, 2003, italics added.) This essay addresses the question: By what authority do humanists make this claim? The answer is based on consideration of the impossibility of a-priori premises and assumptions except for mathematics and logic. Rather than a priori assumptions and premises, the authority underlying humanism is based on the legitimacy of the a-posteriori, in short, empirical and scientific processes and methodologies. (shrink)

It is argued here that our future depends on our completing the secularization of society. This means addressing the problem of authoritarian religions that suppress freedom of belief and opinion. We must promote a post-religious humanism to deal with this problem. This is no more than reviving the humanist consensus which all the major religions acknowledged at least till the 1970s. Until then a comparative religion movement sought to construct a world religion but its endeavours have come to (...) nothing. Secularization means that religious sentiments belong to individuals who work them out for themselves. These sentiments are no longer the prerogative of organizations that impose them on individuals. It is for everyone to develop their own creed on humanist principles. This humanist message contributes to a world monoculture which is now being established everywhere and on which the world’s future peace and security depends. (shrink)

Recent protests in Iran (and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa) have clearly shown the extent of humanism there. Whilst resistance to dictatorship and Islamism has always been in existence, the 2009 Twitter revolution in Iran gave people everywhere an insight into a social movement that is deeply humanist, modern, and secular. What it has also shown is the irrelevance and antithetical character of Islamism with people’s demands and desires. This is what many of us have been saying (...) for a very long time. Recent events, broadcast via citizen journalism, however, have given the world an opportunity to see it for itself. There are several factors contributing to this rise. (shrink)

The tension between naturalism and humanism is at its greatest when it comes to ethics and morality. By drawing on the affinity between the evolutionary humanistic philosophies of classical pragmatist John Dewey and contemporary pragmatist Daniel Dennett, I modify Dennett’s ethical technology, Moral First Aid, to include a kit as well as Dennett’s proposed manual. The contents of this kit draw on Dewey’s reconstructed moral genealogy in which three factors, goods, rights, and virtues, become stock parts for the technoscience of (...) ethics. Lacking in Dennett’s account is an adequate ideal by which to measure moral success. I propose that moral first aid take up Dewey’s moral ideal of democracy as the guide for resolving moral exigencies. (shrink)

Science has developed technology to the point that computers are networked, “talking” to each other and artificial intelligence is a real possibility in the future. In a parallel development, nanotechnology examines interaction on a subparticle level, too small to be seen. Yet, humankind is lagging in development of social co-operation and communication. Violence is still the “weapon of choice” on a personal level as well as a national level. Two major developments seek to address conflict resolution. On a personal level, (...) Marshall B. Rosenburg’s study of Nonviolent Communication seeks to facilitate individual interaction. And on the macro level, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr’s work in Passive Resistance has had great success in social change without loss of life. This article, in an effort to promote civil discourse asks the questions: How do these two movements relate to each other? Is there a point of connection which may offer a window through which individuals and groups might resolve conflict successfully? (shrink)

This article develops a critical appraisal of John Carroll’s Terror – A Meditation on the Meaning of September 11. In locating the book in the context of a broader set of narratives concerning the origins and meaning of “9-11,” the article highlights many of the erroneous assumptions that permeate works like Carroll’s that, in essence, attempt to explain fundamentalist Islamic terrorism by reference to the moral decadence and spiritual vacuity of “the West.” It is argued that Carroll’s thesis slips too (...) readily into a reductivist and essentializing view of the consequences of secular humanism in the West and further, that it relies on highly questionable assumptions about the social architecture of “Western culture.” Carroll’s brand of “cultural conservatism” fails to do justice to the complex geopolitical, cultural and ideological reasons for the attacks on America in 2001, and a far more rigorous analysis involving an appreciation of the effects and consequences of global socio-economic, military and other inequalities would set the foundations of a more coherent understanding of terrorism in the current era. Though Carroll’s thesis constitutes a significant intervention in the field of terrorism studies, it marks an important starting point for considered debate rather than adequate explanation of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism. (shrink)

Edmund Husserl questions the so-called “objectivity” and focus of modern science in The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Husserl claims that the sciences as presently practiced and understood rest upon a “ground” that goes unnoticed and unacknowledged. Husserl calls this ground the life-world; the everyday horizon and environment that provide the sciences with the consistent structures of the objects they investigate. By extrapolating on what the life-world means for us as beings-in-the-world, Husserl hopes to resolve what he terms (...) the “crisis of the European sciences.” In the following paper, I examine precisely what this “crisis” entails, how Husserl believes the crisis originated, and evaluate Husserl’s proposed solution to resolving this crisis. (shrink)

In this analysis I argue that the Discovery Institute, Intelligent Design’s primary advocate, is more appropriately conceived of as a think-tank, and I attempt to broaden the discussion by identifying issues left unexamined when Intelligent Design (ID) is challenged as a scientific theory or treated as a sectarian religion. I propose an analytic framework that can be deployed to provoke controversy about ID by those who seek to protect society from the penetration of religious ideology into secular institutions. Using (...) concepts from Actor Network Theory (ANT) enhanced with theoretical insights from public relations and risk communications, I argue that the Discovery Institute’s communication strategies include attempts to disrupt the translation of evolution into education and the cultural arena by establishing public trust using appeals to religion and morality, and exploiting anti-science sentiments. (shrink)

This article will explore different images of nature and their implications for the meaning of life in the face of death. First we will elaborate on life as creation, as expressed by Francis of Assisi in his Canticle of the Sun, and see how the imaginative power of this story gives meaning to life and death. Then we will go into the evolutionary approach of life by Richard Dawkins. In his work a totally different significance of finitude becomes visible: death (...) as a necessary segment in the development of life. The philosopher Leo Apostel states that an intellectual/scientific understanding of death is not enough; we need to explore our emotional response to the universe in order to be able to create meaning and value. The work of the biologist Ursula Goodenough and the philosopher Ton Lemaire are discussed as examples of such an affective admiration of life and death based on scientific knowledge. In the end I will conclude that scientific insights give us a lot of information about human beings as concerns their nature and the inevitability of death. But how we can affectively value and give meaning to life in the face of death is still an open question which cannot be answered by science alone. (shrink)

This paper was originally prepared for oral presentation at the Houston Church of Freethought - April 9, 2006, service. The HCOF members include humanists, atheists, agnostics, and other freethinkers. The paper argues that compassion is consistent with Freethought and supplies some suggestions for bringing it to the fore in everyday life.

An exploration of how the writings of Jürgen Habermas lend philosophical support to the universal validity of reason, thus reinforcing the foundation of humanism.

An exploration of the legacy of Michael Servetus to the development of a new type of theological inquiry which ultimately helped lead to the development of critical biblical studies.

Africa is a “deeply” religious society. Belief in God, the devil, spirits, and ancestors is strong and overwhelming. Faith in spiritual and supernatural beings drives and dominates the lives of the people and their popular explanations of phenomena encountered during the course of daily life. Hence traditional practices informed by religious dogmas and superstitions feature prominently in communities. And religious authorities wield enormous power and influence on education, legislation, morality, policies, decisions, and the entire life of the people. Historically there (...) has been limited space for an alternative outlook and limited attention to reason, critical thinking, and common sense in public discourse. However, as I argue in this article, humanism in the African context is growing and gaining visibility. What I offer are the reflections of a humanist organizer and activist meant to offer brief commentary on humanism on the African continent. (shrink)