1973 Humanist Manifesto II - Introduction

The next century can be and should be the humanistic century. Dramatic scientific, technological, and ever-accelerating social and political changes crowd our awareness. We have virtually conquered the planet, explored the moon, overcome the natural limits of travel and communication; we stand at the dawn of a new age, ready to move farther into space and perhaps inhabit other planets. Using technology wisely, we can control our environment, conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our life-span, significantly modify our behavior, alter the course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock vast new powers, and provide humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life.

The future is, however, filled with dangers. In learning to apply the scientific method to nature and human life, we have opened the door to ecological damage, over-population, dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and nuclear and bio-chemical disaster. Faced with apocalyptic prophesies and doomsday scenarios, many flee in despair from reason and embrace irrational cults and theologies of withdrawal and retreat.

Traditional moral codes and newer irrational cults both fail to meet the pressing needs of today and tomorrow. False "theologies of hope" and messianic ideologies, substituting new dogmas for old, cannot cope with existing world realities. They separate rather than unite peoples.

Humanity, to survive, requires bold and daring measures. We need to extend the uses of scientific method, not renounce them, to fuse reason with compassion in order to build constructive social and moral values. Confronted by many possible futures, we must decide which to pursue. The ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for growth in each human personality - not for the favored few, but for all of humankind. Only a shared world and global measures will suffice.

A humanist outlook will tap the creativity of each human being and provide the vision and courage for us to work together. This outlook emphasizes the role human beings can play in their own spheres of action. The decades ahead call for dedicated, clear-minded men and women able to marshal the will, intelligence, and cooperative skills for shaping a desirable future. Humanism can provide the purpose and inspiration that so many seek; it can give personal meaning and significance to human life.

Many kinds of humanism exist in the contemporary world. The varieties and emphases of naturalistic humanism include "scientific," "ethical," "democratic," "religious," and "Marxist" humanism. Free thought, atheism, agnosticism, skepticism, deism, rationalism, ethical culture, and liberal religion all claim to be heir to the humanist tradition. Humanism traces its roots from ancient China, classical Greece and Rome, through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, to the scientific revolution of the modern world. But views that merely reject theism are not equivalent to humanism. They lack commitment to the positive belief in the possibilities of human progress and to the values central to it. Many within religious groups, believing in the future of humanism, now claim humanist credentials. Humanism is an ethical process through which we all can move, above and beyond the divisive particulars, heroic personalities, dogmatic creeds, and ritual customs of past religions or their mere negation.

We affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a basis for united action - positive principles relevant to the present human condition. They are a design for a secular society on a planetary scale.

For these reasons, we submit this new Humanist Manifesto for the future of humankind; for us, it is a vision of hope, a direction for satisfying survival.

Notes:

A revised Humanist Manifesto, considered necessary in response to World War II and Nazism. Isaac Asimov was among the signers.

Folksonomies: science atheism humanism humanist secular humanism

Taxonomies:
/religion and spirituality (0.513746)
/religion and spirituality/atheism and agnosticism (0.347340)
/society (0.276040)

Keywords:
Humanist Manifesto (0.946819 (positive:0.384226)), irrational cults (0.804666 (negative:-0.862568)), new Humanist Manifesto (0.801696 (positive:0.384226)), embrace irrational cults (0.781428 (negative:-0.862890)), newer irrational cults (0.778772 (negative:-0.862246)), scientific method (0.771172 (positive:0.218497)), humanism (0.769259 (positive:0.531854)), vast new powers (0.764786 (positive:0.593763)), human life (0.763788 (positive:0.219673)), existing world realities (0.759790 (neutral:0.000000)), Traditional moral codes (0.757970 (negative:-0.862246)), present human condition (0.757685 (positive:0.804362)), naturalistic humanism (0.726309 (positive:0.621579)), humanist outlook (0.679245 (positive:0.845756)), humanist tradition (0.677309 (neutral:0.000000)), humanist credentials (0.668773 (positive:0.266694)), World War (0.668604 (neutral:0.000000)), human evolution (0.667745 (positive:0.293939)), political changes (0.661695 (neutral:0.000000)), humanistic century (0.660516 (positive:0.626962)), Isaac Asimov (0.657645 (neutral:0.000000)), totalitarian repression (0.653926 (negative:-0.682505)), human beings (0.652471 (positive:0.524228)), new age (0.652364 (positive:0.267078)), new dogmas (0.651222 (negative:-0.203792)), human personality (0.650801 (positive:0.258203)), apocalyptic prophesies (0.650230 (negative:-0.843524)), unparalleled opportunity (0.650070 (positive:0.851372)), bio-chemical disaster (0.646060 (negative:-0.662708)), cultural development (0.645976 (positive:0.293939))

Entities:
World War II:FieldTerminology (0.831815 (neutral:0.000000)), Isaac Asimov:Person (0.796609 (neutral:0.000000)), Rome:City (0.624556 (neutral:0.000000)), China:Country (0.598391 (neutral:0.000000)), Greece:Country (0.537824 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Human (0.982598): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Humanism (0.967720): dbpedia | freebase
Science (0.850425): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Religion (0.811315): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Secularism (0.723409): dbpedia | freebase
Morality (0.722751): dbpedia | freebase
Scientific method (0.678780): dbpedia | freebase
Humanist Manifesto (0.644650): dbpedia | freebase

 Humanist Manifesto II
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article:  American Humanist Association, Wilson, Kurtz (1973), Humanist Manifesto II, American Humanist Association, Retrieved on 2011-03-23
  • Source Material [www.americanhumanist.org]
  • Folksonomies: spiritual naturalism atheism humanism humanist secular humanism


    Triples

    23 MAR 2011

     The Evolving Humanist Manifesto

    1933 Humanist Manifesto > Time Sequence > 1973 Humanist Manifesto II - Introduction
    In light of historical events between 1933 and 1973, the American Humanist Association had to revise their manifesto to make it more hopeful and realistic about humanity: It is forty years since Humanist Manifesto I (1933) appeared. Events since then make that earlier statement seem far too optimistic. Nazism has shown the depths of brutality of which humanity is capable. Other totalitarian regimes have suppressed human rights without ending poverty. Science has sometimes brought evil as we...