Humanism: Encyclopedia II - Humanism - Aspects

Humanism - Aspects

Humanism - Religion

While humanism in some ways fulfills or supplements the role of religions in people's lives, and therefore qualifies as a stance on religion, it is not a religion in itself. It is entirely compatible with naturalism (and therefore atheism), but doesn't strictly require either of these, and is in fact compatible with some types of religion.

Though the dominant forms of humanism are atheistic (and express a disbelief in the supernatural), not all forms of humanism are. However, humanism denies the importance of the supernatural in human affairs, regardless of whether or not it exists. In this way, humanism does not necessarily rule out some form of theism or deism, and there are many humanists who consider themselves religious, some of whom are members of (typically, liberal) religious organizations. What humanism clearly rejects is blind deference to supernatural beliefs in resolving human affairs, not necessarily the beliefs themselves.

For that matter, atheism on its own doesn't necessarily entail humanism. For example, Objectivism and Soviet Communism are both wholeheartedly atheistic and yet strongly incompatible with humanism due to their ethical views.

Humanism - Knowledge

According to humanism, it is up to us to find the truth, not wait for it to be handed to us through revelation, mysticism, tradition, or anything else that is incompatible with the application of logic to the evidence. In demanding that we avoid blindly accepting unsupported beliefs, it supports scientific skepticism and the scientific method, rejecting authoritarianism and extreme skepticism, and rendering faith an unacceptable basis for action. Likewise, 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.

Humanism - Speciesism

Some have interpreted humanism to be a form of speciesism, mostly because of the word itself, but this doesn't appear to be the case. Humanism does exalt human traits, but doesn't necessarily insist that no other species could or do have the same, or that other species have no rights just because they are not human. For these reasons, humanism appears to be neutral with regard to issues of animal rights.

Humanism - Optimism

Humanism features an optimistic attitude about the capacity of people, but it does not involve believing that human nature is purely good or that each and every person is capable of living up to the humanist ideals of rationality and morality. If anything, there is the recognition that living up to our potential is hard work and requires the help of others. The ultimate goal is human flourishing; making life better for all of us. Even among humanists who do believe in some sort of an afterlife, the focus is on doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world better for those who come after us, not on suffering through life to be rewarded afterwards.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Aspects", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki