Humanist History
Early strands
Those with a western cultural orientation look back to the ancient Greeks for early examples of humanistic thinking. Included are those who tried to develop a philosophical outlook that emphasised the use of reason, and those who claimed that 'the good life' was possible through human powers. One group often cited in humanist histories, are the Sophists who attacked conventional morality and sought new standards. The founder of the Sophist school, Protagoras (around 480 - 411 BC) taught that justice is a matter of agreed rules, and that "man is the measure of all things"
. He claimed that there is no standard, or ideal, apart from human purposes and values as derived from human experience. Humanists also look favourably on Socrates (469 - 399 BC) who rejected the Homeric myths and the gods of Athens, and proposed that ethics should be based on reason. He was accused of corrupting the young and tried by a jury of Athenians who sentenced him to death if he did not recant his irreverent views. Famously he held firm to his opinions and drank the hemlock. Socrates left no writings and it was through his pupil Plato (427 - 347 BC) that his ideas are made known. However Plato, while instructive on many matters, advocated ideal forms and absolutes, two notions not generally favoured by humanists.
Nicomachean Ethics (384 - 322 BC) by Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, has been taken as a guiding text for humanistic ethics. In this text the life of practical wisdom, and the fulfillment of virtue and excellence are developed. Aristotle was also a great recorder of nature, and affirmed that humans had the potential to be freed from fear of the gods. While Plato used reasoning to try to understand divine things, Aristotle used reasoning to understand things of the environment and daily life. These different ways of using reason sowed the seeds for the much later division, in European thinking, between religion and science. A divide, that to this day is still the source of deep seated disagreement.
Epicurus (341 - 271 BC) suggested the theory that matter was made of everlasting atoms and therefore there was no need for a prime cause. He also held that logically there must be other worlds and that the gods, if they existed, lived in the empty spaces and had no interest in the life of humans. What concerned Epicurus was the art of living. He defined 'the good life' as one filled with pleasure, friendship, absence of pain and peace of mind. Epicurus is said to have written several hundred books, but only fragments have survived. One apt humanistic saying attributed to Epicurus, translates as "friendship goes dancing round the world proclaiming to us all, awake to the praises of a happy life"
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Expressions of humanistic thinking can also be found in Roman philosophy. This was especially true of Epicureanism as espoused by Lucretius (99 -55 BC) who derived many of his ideas from Epicurus; Stoicism as espoused by Epictetus (55 - 135 AD) and Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180AD), and Skepticism as advocated by Carneades, Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus.
Asian influences
Like the European experience, materialistic and atheistic life philosophies have co-existed for thousands of years with theistic religions. Two great atheistic philosophers, born more than 2,500 years ago, put forward ideas that have had a far reaching influence throughout the world. These are Confucius in China and the Buddha in India. Both men contributed guides for living that supposed that it was in human hands to lead an ethical and satisfying life.
Of specific influence on the Humanist and Rationalist groups active in India today, are the classical Indian movements that questioned the authority of the Vedas (ancient sacred Hindu writings ). Classical Indian materialism went through a number of stages. The first period was characterised by a tendency to opposition and questioning. The second stage, which culminating in the Lokayata period, was a system of philosophy that recognised perception as a source of knowledge and identified the body with self. The third, Charvak system, was a hedonistic corruption of the Lokayata approach. Charvakism lacked a sound ethical base and entailed an 'eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die' approach to life. The fourth stage was characterised by a marked opposition to the Vedas by the Buddhists and Jains. It is know as Nastika, meaning one who condemns the Vedas.
Because some forms of Buddhism are primarily a system of materialistic and ethical beliefs, they share a large amount of common ground with Humanism. This level of shared commonality is enabling profitable dialogue to occur between these two systems of thought.
Renaissance
The conversion of Emperor Constantine, in 312 AD, began the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the then declining Roman Empire. By the 400s, as alternative views were suppressed, the ideas of the early humanistic thinkers ceased to attract followers. In the subsequent period known as the Dark Ages, faith dominated as people looked obsessively beyond themselves for a deity of salvation. However, by the late Middle Ages as the feudal system began to fragment and travel increased there was a revival of interest in human orientated works typified by a re-examination of Aristotle's writings. This was followed in the 1400s by the period we now call the 'Renaissance' during which there was a great resurgence of scholarship in the early classical writings. This exposed many people to secular forms of morality, and lead to a reduction of scholarly emphasis on the Bible as the source of all wisdom and virtue. Around this time the term humanist began to be used to describe those engaged in literary as well as philosophical studies based on classical sources. These early humanists considered that 'the good life' and human happiness were possible, and that earthly pleasures should not be condemned. The Florentine translator Marsilio Ficino (1433 - 99), Gianozzo Manetti ( ? - 1459), and Pico della Mirandola (1463 - 94) were all philosophical humanists. They emphasised the dignity of man, his capacity for freedom and the need for tolerance. Also included is the Dutch humanist writer Desiderius Erasmus (1466 -1536) who is especially noted for his religious tolerance.
Development of humanism
Intellectual activity during the 1600 - 1700s spread humanist ideas and laid the foundation for the humanist movement to bloom, as the natural and free thinking philosophies of our modern period were developed. The entwinement of humanism with modernism is recognised by both supporters and critics of these two movements. Indeed, there is some justification for this, as perhaps more than any other movement, humanism expresses the outlook and values of the modern world. Central to modernity has been the growing recognition of the rights of the individual and individualism, and the use of knowledge to advance human interests. In turn these ways of thinking have given rise to universalistic notions of a single, preferred way to look at the world, namely the western scientific way.
Many thinkers contributed to the modern outlook. For example, the French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 92) expressed both skeptical and humanist values. The Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632 - 77), defended freethought, rejected biblical revelation as a source of ethics, and paved the way for the new natural philosophy (later called science). He also attempted to naturalise religion by identifying god with nature.
An early protest by humanists was the defense of free inquiry against ecclesiastical and political censorship. This early association of humanists with freethought explains the inclination of modern day humanists to valourise early victims of clerical oppression such as the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548 - 99) and the Italian experimenter Galileo Galilee (1564 - 1642).
It was the development of the methods of natural philosophy (later to be called science) and their application to understanding the natural world that brought a decisive intellectual influence to bear on humanist thought. To explain natural processes, humanists favoured the use of reason as advocated by Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) ) and experience as recommended by Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), John Locke ( 1632 - 1704), and David Hume (1711 - 76). The willingness of thinkers to use of reason and experience challenged the authority of religious revelation and tradition, as prime sources of knowledge.
The Enlightenment
The period we call 'the scientific revolution' during the 1600s began with the development of natural philosophy covering, in particular, the fields of physics and astronomy. This was followed in the 1700s by the Enlightenment or Age of Reason, when the use of reason and the methods of natural philosophy were extended to thinking about the living world, society and humanity. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a confidence that with the spread of reason and the 'new' natural philosophy knowledge through education, human beings could be liberated from superstition to build a better world. Deists such as the French writer Voltaire (1694 - 1778) and philosopher and encyclopaedist Denis Diderot (1713 - 84) were critical of clericalism and appeals to biblical revelation, and they sought to develop a religion of nature and reason. In was also during this period that the ideals of democracy were strongly advocated. Humanists defended the ideal of freedom against repressive governments and/or church, insisting on tolerance for alternative viewpoints. They championed the right of free conscience and dissent. Utilitarians, including reformist Jeremy Bentham (1748 -1832), and politician and writer John Stuart Mill (1806 - 73) continued these trends in the nineteenth century. The increasing appeal of humanist thinking paralleled the growth of secular or worldly values in contrast to spiritual and sacred ones.
The modern world is witness to the widespread secularisation of social and cultural life. This means, first that morality can be freed from religious authority. People have increasingly placed reason, freedom, happiness and justice at the core of their value system previously dominated by the sense of original sin and the older virtues of faith, hope and charity. Second, it has involved an effort to limit ecclesiastical control over various institutions of society, especially the state, schools and the economy. Fear of an established church and state connection, is embodied in the First Amendment to the American Constitution. (Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for the redress of grievances. 1791
) Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809), Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 90) and other leaders of the American Revolution were deeply influenced by secular and humanist ideals.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many thinkers ( Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey) and a number of movements ( Marxism, existentialism, positivism, behaviourism, libertarianism) have claimed humanist credentials. The term humanism is considered so ennobling that few thinkers are willing to reject it outright. Thus, the Roman Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain refers to Christian humanism as a concern for ameliorating the human condition on earth and maintains that Christianity is the only authentic humanism. Many modern Humanists also claim some form of religious humanism, liberal Unitarianism being one example. These humanists introduce a distinction between a 'religion' and the 'religious' qualities of experience, and emphasise the latter. They considered that the term 'god' expresses the highest of human ideals (John Dewey) or the focus of our 'ultimate concern' (Paul Tillich).
Democracy
One point of dispute in contemporary humanism concerns the issue of democracy. Many humanists point to the fact that Marx, particularly the early Marx of the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, was a humanist and that he emphasised the emancipation of humans from oppression and the seeking of human fulfillment. Humans being responsible for their own destiny, obliges us to reconstruct social history. A school of eastern European thinkers identified with the journal Praxis call themselves Marxist or socialist humanists (Mihailo Markovic, Ljubomir Tadic, Svetozar Stojanovic, and Danko Grlic). They emphasise the centrality of freedom, and their point of view has similarities with existentialism.
Many western humanists dispute whether Marxism is a form of humanism. J. S. Mill, John Dewey, Sidney Hook, Ernest Nagel and others emphasise liberal values and especially the importance of civil liberties and political democracy. They appreciate uniqueness and individuality of each person. Along with human sociality, the key value is freedom. Whereas orthodox Marxists, focus on equality and man's social nature, and they tend to minimise individual liberty.
Marxist-Leninists insist that they are humanists insofar as they are atheistic, wish to use science and technology, and believe that reason can redirect blind social processes and contribute to social welfare. Liberal humanists insist however upon the centrality of individual freedom as a first principle. For them any philosophy or ideology that denies the centrality of individual freedom betrays the essence of humanism. They consider totalitarian and statist Marxism functions similarly, on the one hand, to dogmatic theistic doctrines, and on the other hand, quickly becomes akin to fascism. The differing emphasis on wellbeing of society through cooperation versus the paramount rights of individual freedom is an unresolved tension in the Humanist movement. Humanism, however, is broad enough to allow some difference in ideology and politics. In being committed to free inquiry, it recognises that political programs may change and platforms evolve.
Late twentieth century
Late twentieth century Humanists maintain two additional moral principles: a responsibility to humankind as a whole, and a responsibility to maintain the viability of our biosphere. First we have an obligation to do what we can to better the condition of all humanity. Humanists seek to improve human existence, by democratic methods such as persuasion, tolerance, negotiation and compromise rather than coercion, violence, intimidation or warfare. Some have identified humanism with humanitarianism, that is, a concern with general human happiness. Though this characteristic is necessary to define contemporary humanism, it is not sufficient; for theists may also express a humanitarian concern.
Humanism has been identified more recently, and perhaps uncritically, with humanistic psychology associated with such names as Abraham Maslow, Erich Fromm, and Carl Rogers. The influence of existentialism and phenomenology is also prominent in humanism, but most humanists reject behaviourist psychology, as associated with figures like B.F.Skinner, as de-humanising to people. Humanistic psychology is based around the notion human behaviour and inclinations are potentially good rather than 'sinful'. The realisation of human nature, the satisfaction of basic needs (including sexual fulfillment, self-respect, love, belonging to a community), and human growth are the highest goals. Thus, humanists share a set of moral virtues with classical Greco-Roman humanists. However, we have witnessed tendencies to neo-romanticism, in its focus on immediate experience and its de-emphasis of developed cognitive skills or the role of intelligence. Such a form of humanism has been appealed to in order to object to many abuses of technology. But it may represent a return to an early idyllic view of nature and life, and even allow a reintroduction of spiritualistic transcendence or paranormal.
Humanism as espoused by secularists, as a distinct form from all other forms, emphasises the use of science and critical intelligence in solving human problems. It has confidence in the ability of humans to apply science and technology for the betterment of human life; it is sceptical about the existence of occult, paranormal, of transcendent realities. Although it is the modern-day expression of classical atheism in what it rejects, it also expresses a positive normative concern for developing constructive ethical values appropriate to the present situation of humans on this planet. It is uncompromising in its commitment to democracy, and it considers individual dignity and freedom the highest human value.
Modern Organised Humanism
Modern organised Humanism arose phoenix-like from the ashes of World War Two. In the late 1940s many secularists, rationalists, humanists, and freethinkers began to exchange ideas about the need for a secular, ethical alternative to religion. In 1952, an International Congress of Humanism and Ethical Culture was held in Amsterdam, sponsored by the British Ethical Union, the American Humanist Association, the American Ethical Union, the Dutch and Belgium Humanist Leagues, the Indian Radical Humanists and the Vienna Ethical Society. Julian Huxley an avowed Humanist who had been appointed in 1946 as the first director of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) presided. He opened with a long speech on 'evolutionary Humanism', in which he espoused the idea of humanism as a new religion. After much discussion the Congress expressed its support for UNESCO, endorsed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international conventions and concluded by founding the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). Huxley was elected President, Harold Blackham (British Ethical Union) Secretary, and Hector Hawton (South Place Ethical Society) drafted the first international Declaration on Humanism:
"The Congress is a response to the widespread demand for an alternative to the religions which claim to be based on revelation, on the one hand, and to totalitarian systems, on the other. The alternative offered as a third way out of the present crisis of civilisation is Humanism, which is not a new sect, but the outcome of a long tradition that has inspired many of the world's thinkers and creative artists and given rise to science itself. Ethical Humanism unites all those who can no longer believe the various creeds and are willing to base their conviction on respect for man as a spiritual and moral being".
[page 50 in Humanism What's in the Word. Walter, Nicholas. 1997]
From 1952 to1996, IHEU was based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. In 1997 the Headquarters of IHEU moved to London, with the appointment of Babu Gogineni as the Executive Director. There are now over 90 affiliates with the IHEU representing some 34 countries. In most countries formal Humanist membership is relatively small, but a different situation exists in both The Netherlands and Norway where Humanism is recognised as an equivalent life view to religion and accordingly receives State tax based funding. As a consequence Humanist membership in both these countries runs into tens of thousands.
Humanism in Australia
Since the European occupation and settlement, beginning in 1788, Australians have been predominately Christian, though secularists, humanists and others have been well tolerated. Humanist, Rationalist and other secular organisations have been formed during the last one hundred years. Their influence has been variable and membership rarely more than a few hundred.
The first Australian Humanist Society was formed in New South Wales in 1960. This was followed in 1961 by the formation of the Humanist Society of Victoria, Humanist Society of South Australia in 1962, Humanist Society of Western Australia in 1965, and in 1967 Humanist Society of Queensland by incorporation of the Queensland Rationalist Society. The Australian Humanists or Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) was formed in 1965 to co-ordinate Humanist activities nationally. An annual Convention is held at which delegates from all affiliated Societies discuss current issues of concern, exchange information, socialise and agree on joint actions including the appointment of an Australian Humanist of the Year. These have included Lionel Murphy, Phillip Adams, Anne Levy, Ian Lowe, Fred Hollows, Olive Zakharov, Bill Hayden and Eva Cox.
A significant act, in 1973, by Lionel Murphy when Attorney-General in the Federal government was to set in place the civil celebrant program. People not desiring a church marriage have long had the option of a registry office service. Murphy believed secular people should be given other options where pleasant surroundings, music, and poetry could be used in marriage ceremonies. The availability of civil celebrants has lead to a steady increase in people choosing civil marriages. From around 8% in 1973 to nearly 50% in 1999. A trend demonstrating the growth of secularism in Australia. This has also coincided with a steady decline in regular church attendance, religious observance and clergy recruitment, making Australia one of the more secular western democracies.
The Future
Australia will be holding a Pacific-Rim Regional Humanist Congress, Australis2000, in Sydney November 12-14. This IHEU and CAHS endorsed event will be hosted by HSNSW. To mark the 50th anniversary of IHEU an International Humanist Congress will be held in the year 2002 in Amsterdam.
