Humanism and Doubt
If you desire fixed answers to life's big questions, Humanism will not meet your needs, for the Humanist approach to life begins and ends with doubt. Unlike the certainties offered by religion, Humanism treats human knowledge as provisional, more like a working draft, than a set of fixed answers. Such as an open-minded approach means Humanists expect many human beliefs to be overturned as new information becomes available.
The history of Humanism is the history of sceptics and doubters. It is peopled with the likes of Socrates, Galileo, Tom Paine, and Bertrand Russell. And from the present, Canadian author of Voltaire's Bastards, and The Doubter's Companion, John Ralston Saul, and Australian commentators, such as Phillip Adams, Donald Horne, Tim Flannery, Eva Cox, Terry Lane and Pamela Bone. These and other doubters journey through life asking probing questions and taking a sceptical view of many often widely held beliefs and attitudes.
This same questioning approach is the basis of science - a modern enterprise responsible for huge advances in knowledge and human well-being [sadly many negative outcomes as well]. Science proceeds through questioning, experimentation, more questions, theorising and still more questions. Even as sound scientific knowledge accumulates it is never 100 per cent certain. A fact those indoctrinated to expect certainty, find near impossible to grasp.
Living a good life with meaning and purpose is central to the Humanist journey. The values and ethics of Humanism are an undogmatic expression of common sense, an advocacy of human rights and of what 'works' to increase human well-being. This is well stated in Clause 4 of the Amsterdam Declaration 2002, endorsed by delegates at the IHEU Congress on 6 July 2002:
Humanism ventures to build a world on the idea of the free person, responsible to society, and recognises our dependence on and responsibility for the natural world. Humanism is undogmatic, imposing no creed upon its adherents. It is committed to education free from indoctrination.
Humanism's free inquiry approach offers liberation from the restrictions of religious dogma and fixed creeds. It is a modern alternative to religions formulated in ancient times when the chaos and vagaries of life made claims to certain knowledge so appealing. It requires the maturity to live with doubt and face life as an autonomous, responsible being.
