Much of this is taken from a letter from Greg M. Epstein of the
Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University
Rabii Wine was a teacher, a fellow Humanisst, AHA Humanist of the Year, and one of the greatest Humanist leaders of the 20th Century. Rabbi Wine and his longtime partner, Richard McMains, were vacationing in Morocco. Returning from dinner Saturday evening July 21 in Essaouira, their taxicab was hit by another driver. Both Rabbi Wine and the taxi driver were killed instantly. Richard survived the collision and currently is hospitalized in stable condition.
For a press release with more detailed information about Wine, dubbed "the atheist rabbi" by Time magazine in 1965, including regarding the memorial service currently being planned, click here or visit the Society for Humanistic Judaism. To hear Rabbi Wine speak on Humanistic Judaism, click here for an interview recorded at Harvard University in April 2007. A video of Rabbi Wine’s stirring speech at Harvard in April 2007 will be available later this week at http://harvardhumanist.org.
Around the world, Wine taught that human dignity, courage and love are our most important values, not religious obedience. He publicly debated religious fundamentalists such as Jerry Falwell and Meir Kahane. And he refused the religious veneer that America so values in its leaders -- though he kept the title rabbi he did not pray or praise a god he did not believe in.
And yet the movement Sherwin founded and the career he pioneered, was never about being against god but rather about moving beyond god to create humanist community, led by humanist professionals, for the benefit of all human beings. If we learn one thing from Rabbi Wine's loss, let it be this: now that the world's attention has turned to the 1.1 billion non-religious people on earth, and now that bestselling books on atheism by authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have shown millions what Humanists do not believe in, let us follow Sherwin's example and dedicate ourselves to building a positive alternative to traditional religion. Let us build communities, organizations, and families that do good for ourselves and others, based on the Humanist ethic of reason, compassion and creativity
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Monday, July 23, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Definitions of Humanism
Based on work by Corliss Lamont, the heart of humanism is: “Humanism, having its ultimate faith in humankind, believes that human beings possess the power or potentiality of solving their own problems, through reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method applied with courage and vision.”
This isn’t bad, but is probably a bit out of date and it unfortunately uses that “ultimate faith in” phrase that always bothers me. It also has extraneous verbiage like “with courage and vision”; I don’t see how that should be part of the definition of Humanism. The bit about “reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method” is good.
“Humanism is a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity.”
So here is the first blatant example of what Carmen was talking about; they had to include “without supernaturalism”. I think the roots/base of Humanism are a life stance that is separate from supernaturalism, so this phrase really degrades the meaning here and isn’t needed. If they had left that out, it would be close, but then it doesn’t say much either (just that Humanism is a philosophy of being good, hmmm).
“A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.”
This one is even more blatant by saying “rejects religious beliefs” and for this it clearly misses the mark. Humanism came out of the Renaissance Christians who thought reason and intellect should apply to everything, including religion (as Humanists do); also, the first Humanist Manifesto was primarily written by Unitarian ministers.
“A system of thought that centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.”
I like this one, it is clean, simple and to the point. Unfortunately it is so broad that it might include almost everyone.
“Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationalism.”
Leave it to wikipedia to come up with one of the best. If they had replaced “rationalism” with the “reason and scientific method” from Lamont’s, I might think it was perfect.
“Humanism is a world view informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports liberty and opportunity consonant with social and global responsibility. Free of supernaturalism, humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions, and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny”
This is another good one and much more complete than the others, though it does have that “Free of supernaturalism” clause; it also has that “Theological or ideological abstractions” - that sounds kind of like a shot at religions. I like the last phrase a lot and use it in my explanations.
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