Humanism and Its Aspirations
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Humanism and Its Aspirations (subtitled Humanist Manifesto III, a successor to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933) is the most recent of the Humanist Manifestos, published in 2003 by the American Humanist Association (AHA).[1] The newest one is much shorter, listing six primary beliefs, which echo themes from its predecessors:
- Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, trial and error, and rational analysis.
- The human species is an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change.
- Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience;
- Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals;
- Humans are social animals by nature and find meaning in relationships;
- Working to benefit human societies maximizes individual happiness and collective well-being.
It has been used as source material for secular and atheistic ethics.[2]
Signatories
[edit]Academics and other prominent persons were signatories to the document, attesting "We who sign Humanism and Its Aspirations declare ourselves in general agreement with its substance":
Notable signatories
[edit]- Philip Appleman (poet and distinguished professor emeritus of English literature at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana)
- Khoren Arisian (senior leader at New York Society for Ethical Culture)
- Bill Baird (reproductive rights pioneer)
- Frank Berger (pharmacologist, developer of anti-anxiety drugs)
- Howard Box (minister emeritus at the Unitarian Universalist Christian Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee)
- Lester R. Brown (founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute)
- August E. Brunsman IV (executive director of the Secular Student Alliance)
- Rob Buitenweg (vice president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Vern Bullough (sexologist and former co-president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- David Bumbaugh (professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois)
- Matthew Cherry (executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies)
- Joseph Chuman (visiting professor of Religious studies at Columbia University and leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, New Jersey)
- Curt Collier (leader of the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, New York)
- Fred Cook (retired executive committee member, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Carl Coon (former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal)
- Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, and Professor for Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford)
- Charles Debrovner (president of the Humanist Institute)
- Arthur Dobrin (professor of humanities at Hofstra University and leader emeritus of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, New York)
- Margaret Downey (president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia)
- Sonja Eggerickx (vice president of Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen in Belgium and vice president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Riane Eisler (president of the Center for Partnership Studies)
- Albert Ellis (psychologist, creator of rational emotive behavior therapy and founder of the Albert Ellis Institute)
- Edward L. Ericson (leader emeritus of Ethical Culture)
- Roy P. Fairfield (co-founder of Union Graduate School in Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Antony Flew (philosopher)
- Levi Fragell (president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Jerome Isaac Friedman (Nobel Laureate in Physics and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts)
- Arun Gandhi (peace activist, co-founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Memphis, Tennessee)
- Kendyl Gibbons (president of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association)
- Sol Gordon (sexologist)
- Ethelbert Haskins (retired treasurer of the Humanist Foundation)
- Jim Herrick (editor of the New Humanist)
- Pervez Hoodbhoy (professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan)
- Fran P. Hosken (editor of Women's International Network News)
- Joan Johnson Lewis (president of National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union)
- Stefan Jonasson (immediate past president of HUUmanists)
- Larry Jones (president of the Institute for Humanist Studies)
- Edwin Kagin (founder and director of Camp Quest)
- Beth Lamont (American Humanist Association representative to the United Nations)
- Gerald A. Larue (professor emeritus of biblical archaeology and history of the Bible at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California)
- Joseph Levee (board member, Council for Secular Humanism)
- Ellen McBride (immediate past president, American Ethical Union)
- Lester Mondale (retired Unitarian Universalist minister and signer of Humanist Manifestos I and II)
- Henry Morgentaler (abortion rights pioneer)
- Stephen D. Mumford (president of the Center for Research on Population and Security)
- William Murry (president and dean at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois)
- Sarah Oelberg (president of HUUmanists)
- Indumati Parikh (president of the Center for the Study of Social Change in India)
- Philip Paulson (activist for the separation of church and state)
- Katha Pollitt (columnist at The Nation)
- Howard Radest (dean emeritus of the Humanist Institute)
- James "Amazing" Randi (magician, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation)
- Larry Reyka (president of the Humanist Society)
- David Schafer (retired research physiologist, U.S. Veterans Administration)
- Eugenie Scott (executive director of the National Center for Science Education)
- Michael Shermer (editor of Skeptic magazine)
- James R. Simpson (professor of international agricultural economics at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan)
- Warren Allen Smith (editor and author)
- Matthew les Spetter (associate professor in social psychology at the Peace Studies Institute of Manhattan University, New York City)
- Oliver Stone (Academy Award-winning filmmaker)
- John Swomley (professor emeritus of social ethics at St. Paul School of Theology in Leawood, Kansas)
- Robert Tapp (dean of the Humanist Institute)
- Carl Thitchener (co-minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and Canandaigua, New York)
- Maureen Thitchener (co-minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and Canandaigua, New York)
- Rodrigue Tremblay (professor emeritus of economics and international finance at the Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada)
- Kurt Vonnegut (philosopher, anti-war activist, and satirical novelist)
- John Weston (ministerial settlement director, Unitarian Universalist Association)
- Edward O. Wilson (ethologist, zoologist, science communicator, professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard University and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner)
- Sherwin Wine (rabbi of the Birmingham Temple, founder and president of the Society for Humanistic Judaism)
Nobel laureates
[edit]22 Nobel laureates were among the signatories:
- Philip W. Anderson (Physics, 1977)
- Paul D. Boyer (Chemistry, 1997)
- Owen Chamberlain (Physics, 1959)
- Francis Crick (Medicine, 1962)
- Paul J. Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995)
- Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Physics, 1991)
- Johann Deisenhofer (Chemistry, 1988)
- Jerome I. Friedman (Physics, 1990)
- Sheldon Glashow (Physics, 1979)
- David J. Gross (Physics, 2004)
- Herbert A. Hauptman (Chemistry, 1985)
- Dudley Herschbach (Chemistry, 1986)
- Harold W. Kroto (Chemistry, 1996)
- Yuan T. Lee (Chemistry, 1986)
- Mario J. Molina (Chemistry, 1995)
- Erwin Neher (Medicine, 1991)
- Ilya Prigogine (Chemistry, 1977)
- Richard J. Roberts (Medicine, 1993)
- John E. Sulston (Medicine, 2002)
- Henry Taube (Chemistry, 1983)
- E. Donnall Thomas (Medicine, 1990)
- James Dewey Watson (Medicine, 1962)
Past AHA presidents
[edit]- Edd Doerr
- Michael W. Werner
- Suzanne I. Paul
- Lyle L. Simpson
- Bette Chambers
- Lloyd L. Morain
- Robert W. McCoy
- Vashti McCollum
AHA board members
[edit]- Melvin Lipman (president)
- Lois Lyons (vice president)
- Ronald W. Fegley (secretary)
- John Nugent (treasurer)
- Wanda Alexander
- John R. Cole
- Tom Ferrick
- Robert D. Finch
- John M. Higgins
- Herb Silverman
- Maddy Urken
- Mike Werner
Drafting committee
[edit]- Fred Edwords (chairman)
- Edd Doerr (also included above as a past AHA president)
- Tony Hileman
- Pat Duffy Hutcheon
- Maddy Urken
See also
[edit]
- Amsterdam Declaration 2002, a similar document from the International Humanist and Ethical Union
- Criticism of religion
- Ethical veganism
- Evolution in public education
- Irreligion by country
- Marxist humanism
- Secular Buddhism
- Secular morality
- The Necessity of Atheism, a 1811 essay written by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley
- The Necessity of Secularism, a 2014 essay written by the Center for Inquiry president Ronald A. Lindsay
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, similar document adopted in 1948 by the U.N. General Assembly
- Vegetarianism and religion
References
[edit]- ^ "Humanism and its Aspirations". American Humanist Association, 2003. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "St. Paul's atheists are coming out of the closet". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved 2019-08-23.