Humanism and Its Aspirations
Encyclopedia
Humanism and Its Aspirations subtitled Humanist Manifesto III, a successor to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 is the most recent of the Humanist Manifesto
s published in 2003 by the American Humanist Association
(AHA). The newest one is much shorter, listing six primary beliefs, which echo themes from its predecessors:
Humanist Manifesto
Humanist Manifesto is the title of three manifestos laying out a Humanist worldview. They are the original Humanist Manifesto , the Humanist Manifesto II , and Humanism and Its Aspirations...
s published in 2003 by the American Humanist Association
American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that...
(AHA). 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, and rational analysis. (See empiricismEmpiricismEmpiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
.) - Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionEvolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary change. - EthicalEthicsEthics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. (See ethical naturalismEthical naturalismEthical naturalism is the meta-ethical view which claims that:# Ethical sentences express propositions.# Some such propositions are true....
.) - Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals.
- Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships.
- Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness.
Signatories
The following academics and other prominent persons were signatories to the document, who signed the statement "We who sign Humanism and Its Aspirations declare ourselves in general agreement with its substance":Notable Signatories
- Philip ApplemanPhilip ApplemanPhilip D. Appleman is an American poet. He is the distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Department of English, Indiana University, Bloomington....
(Poet and distinguished professor emeritus of English, Indiana University) - Khoren Arisian (Senior Leader, NY Society for Ethical Culture)
- Bill BairdBill BairdWilliam F. "Bill" Baird is the founder of the Pro Choice League. Baird established the nation's first abortion referral center in 1964, and later the first birth control and abortion center on a college campus. He was sent to jail for teaching birth control and distributing abortion literature in...
(Reproductive rights pioneer) - Frank Berger (Pharmacologist, developer of anti-anxiety drugs)
- Howard Box (Minister emeritus, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, Tennessee)
- Lester R. BrownLester R. BrownLester Russel Brown is a United States environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C...
(Founder and president, Earth Policy Institute) - August E. Brunsman IV (Executive director, Secular Student Alliance)
- Rob Buitenweg (Vice president, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Vern BulloughVern BulloughVern Leroy Bullough was an American historian and sexologist.He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York , an Outstanding Professor in the California State University, a past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, past Dean of natural and...
(Sexologist and former copresident of the International Humanist and Ethical Union) - David Bumbaugh (Professor, Meadville Lombard Theological School)
- Matthew Cherry (Executive director, Institute for Humanist Studies)
- Joseph Chuman (Visiting professor of religion, Columbia University, and leader, Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, New Jersey)
- Curt Collier (leader, Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, New York)
- Fred Cook (Retired executive committee member, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Carleton CoonCarleton CoonCarleton Coon may refer to:*Carleton Coon, American jazz musician, co-founder of the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra*Carleton S. Coon, American anthropologist...
(Former US Ambassador to Nepal) - Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
(Charles Simonyi professor, University of Oxford) - Charles Debrovner (President, NACH/Humanist Institute)
- Arthur Dobrin (Professor of humanities, Hofstra University and leader emeritus Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, New York)
- Margaret DowneyMargaret DowneyMargaret Downey is an atheist activist who is the former President of Atheist Alliance International and founder and president of the Freethought Society...
(President, Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia) - Sonja Eggerickx (Vice president, Unie Vrijzinnige, Belgium, and vice president International Humanist and Ethical Union)
- Riane EislerRiane EislerRiane Tennenhaus Eisler is an Austrian-born American scholar, writer, and social activist. Born in Vienna ca. 1937, her familyfled from the Nazis to Cuba when she was a child; she later emigrated to the United States. She has degrees in...
(President, Center for Partnership Studies) - Albert Ellis (Creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and founder of the Alber Ellis Institute)
- Edward L. Ericson (Leader emeritus, Ethical Culture)
- Roy P. Fairfield (Cofounder, Union Graduate School)
- Antony FlewAntony FlewAntony Garrard Newton Flew was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, he was notable for his works on the philosophy of religion....
(Philosopher) - Levi FragellLevi FragellLevi Fragell is a Norwegian humanist. He has been chairman and secretary of the Norwegian Humanist Association, and was President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union between 1987-1990 and, in his own right, between 1998-2003.His father was a Pentecostalist preacher, and in his teens...
(President, International Humanist and Ethical Union) - Arun Gandhi (Cofounder, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence)
- Kendyl Gibbons (President, Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association)
- Babu R.R. GogineniBabu GogineniBabu Gogineni is a Hyderabad-based secular humanist and rationalist. Babu Gogineni was Executive Director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, a London-based International NGO with Consultative Status with the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Vienna and with the Council of Europe,...
(Executive director, International Humanist and Ethical Union) - Sol Gordon (Sexologist)
- Ethelbert Haskins (Retired treasurer of the Humanist Foundation)
- Jim HerrickJim HerrickJim Herrick is a British Humanist and secularist. He studied history and English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and then worked as a school teacher for seven years...
(Editor, the New Humanist) - Pervez HoodbhoyPervez HoodbhoyDr. Prof. Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy , is a Pakistani nuclear physicist, essayist and political-defence analyst. He is the professor of nuclear and high-energy physics, and the head of the Physics Department at the Quaid-e-Azam University . He graduated and also received PhD from MIT and continues to...
(Professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan) - Fran P. Hosken (Editor, Women's International Network News)
- Joan Johnson Lewis (President, National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union)
- Stefan Jonasson (Immediate past president, HUUmanists)
- Larry JonesLarry JonesLarry Jones is a retired American basketball player. He played professionally in the NBA and ABA, from 1964 to 1974....
(President, Institute for Humanist Studies) - Edwin KaginEdwin KaginEdwin Frederick Kagin, J.D., is an attorney at law in Union, Kentucky, and a founder of Camp Quest, the first secular summer camp in the United States for the children of secularists, atheists, agnostics, brights, skeptics, naturalists and freethinkers...
(Founder and director, Camp Quest) - Beth Lamont (AHA NGO representative to the United Nations)
- Gerald A. Larue (Professor emeritus of biblical history and archaeology, University of Southern California)
- Joseph Levee (Board member, Council for Secular Humanism)
- Ellen McBride (Immediate past president, American Ethical Union)
- Lester MondaleLester MondaleThe Reverend Robert Lester Mondale was an American Unitarian minister and Humanist. He was the only person to sign each of the three Humanist Manifestos of 1933, 1973, and 2003.- Biography :...
(Retired Unitarian Universalist minister and signer of Humanist Manifestos I and II) - Henry MorgentalerHenry MorgentalerHenry Morgentaler, CM is a Canadian physician and prominent pro-choice advocate who has fought numerous legal battles for that cause.-Early life:...
(Abortion rights pioneer) - Stephen Mumford (President, Center for Research on Population and Security)
- William Murry (President and dean, Meadville-Lombard Theological School)
- Sarah Oelberg (President, HUUmanists)
- Indumati Parikh (President, Center for the Study of Social Change, India)
- Philip Paulson (Church-state activist)
- Katha PollittKatha PollittKatha Pollitt is an American feminist poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry...
(Columnist, the Nation) - Howard Radest (Dean emeritus, the Humanist Institute)
- James "Amazing" RandiJames RandiJames Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
(Magician, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation) - Larry Reyka (President, the Humanist Society)
- David SchaferDavid SchaferDavid Schafer is an American visual artist based in New York. He attended The Art Institute of Kansas City, Missouri from 1973–75, received a B.A. from the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1979 and an M.F.A...
(Retired research physiologist, U.S. Veterans Administration) - Eugenie ScottEugenie ScottEugenie Carol Scott is an American physical anthropologist who has been the executive director of the National Center for Science Education since 1987...
(Executive director, National Center for Science Education) - Michael ShermerMichael ShermerMichael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
(Editor of Skeptic magazine) - James R. Simpson (Professor of international agricultural economics, Ryukoku University, Japan)
- Warren Allen SmithWarren Allen SmithWarren Allen Smith is an American gay rights activist, writer and humanities humanist. In 1961, Smith started the Variety Recording Studio, a major independent company off Broadway, New York City, with his business partner and longtime companion Fernando Rodolfo de Jesus Vargas Zamora. Smith ran...
(Editor and author) - Matthew les Spetter (Associate professor in social psychology at the Peace Studies Institute of Manhattan College, NY)
- Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
(Academy award-winning filmmaker) - John Swomley (Professor emeritus of social ethics, St. Paul School of Theology)
- Robert Tapp (Dean, the Humanist Institute)
- Carl Thitchener (Co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New YorkCanandaigua (city), New YorkCanandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census...
) - Maureen Thitchener (Co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New York)
- Rodrigue TremblayRodrigue TremblayRodrigue Tremblay is a Canadian-born economist, humanist and political figure. He taught economics at the Université de Montréal. He specializes in macroeconomics, international trade and finance, and public finance. He is a prolific author of books in economics and politics.- Biography :Born in...
(Emeritus professor of economics and of international finance, Universite de Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
(Novelist) - John WestonJohn WestonSir John Weston KCMG is a retired British diplomat. He was the UK Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council from 1992 to 1995, and the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1995 to 1998.-Early life:Weston was educated at Sherborne School and Worcester College,...
(Ministerial settlement director, Unitarian Universalist Association) - Edward O. Wilson (Professor, Harvard University, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner)
- Sherwin WineSherwin WineSherwin Theodore Wine was a rabbi and a founding figure in Humanistic Judaism. Originally ordained a Reform rabbi, Wine founded the Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism in 1963, in Birmingham, Michigan, outside Detroit, Michigan .In 1969...
(Founder and president, Society for Humanistic Judaism)
Nobel laureates
21 Nobel laureates signed the statement, these being:- Philip W. Anderson (Physics, 1977)
- Paul D. BoyerPaul D. Boyer- External links :* , from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy* * *...
(Chemistry, 1997) - Owen ChamberlainOwen ChamberlainOwen Chamberlain was an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery, with collaborator Emilio Segrè, of antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.-Biography:...
(Physics, 1959) - Francis CrickFrancis CrickFrancis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
(Medicine, 1962) - Paul J. CrutzenPaul J. CrutzenPaul Jozef Crutzen is a Dutch Nobel prize winning atmospheric chemist.Crutzen is best known for his research on ozone depletion. He lists his main research interests as “Stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and their role in the biogeochemical cycles and climate”...
(Chemistry, 1995) - Pierre-Gilles de GennesPierre-Gilles de GennesPierre-Gilles de Gennes was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991.-Biography:...
(Physics, 1991) - Johann DeisenhoferJohann DeisenhoferJohann Deisenhofer is a German biochemist who, along with Hartmut Michel and Robert Huber, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1988 for their determination of the structure of a membrane-bound complex of proteins and co-factors that is essential to photosynthesis.Deisenhofer earned his...
(Chemistry, 1988) - Jerome I. Friedman (Physics, 1990)
- Sheldon Glashow (Physics, 1979)
- Herbert A. HauptmanHerbert A. HauptmanHerbert Aaron Hauptman was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures of crystallized materials...
(Chemistry, 1985) - Dudley Herschbach (Chemistry, 1986)
- Harold W. Kroto (Chemistry, 1996)
- Yuan T. LeeYuan T. LeeYuan Tseh Lee, Ph.D. is a chemist. He was the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize laureate, who, along with the Hungarian-Canadian John C. Polanyi and American Dudley R. Herschbach won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 "for their contributions to the dynamics of chemical elementary processes"...
(Chemistry, 1986) - Mario J. MolinaMario J. MolinaMario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez is a Mexican chemist and one of the most prominent precursors to the discovering of the Antarctic ozone hole. He was a co-recipient Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (born March 19, 1943 in Mexico City) is a Mexican chemist and one of the most prominent...
(Chemistry, 1995) - Erwin NeherErwin NeherErwin Neher is a German biophysicist.Erwin Neher studied physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US...
(Medicine, 1991) - Ilya PrigogineIlya PrigogineIlya, Viscount Prigogine was a Russian-born naturalized Belgian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility.-Biography :...
(Chemistry, 1977) - Richard J. RobertsRichard J. RobertsSir Richard "Rich" John Roberts is a British biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing.When he was 4, his family moved to Bath. In...
(Medicine, 1993) - John E. SulstonJohn E. SulstonSir John Edward Sulston FRS is a British biologist. He is a joint winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.He is currently Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester....
(Medicine, 2002) - Henry TaubeHenry TaubeHenry Taube, Ph.D, M.Sc, B.Sc, FRSC was a Canadian-born American chemist noted for having been awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his work in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes." He was the first Canadian-born chemist to win the Nobel Prize...
(Chemistry, 1983) - E. Donnall ThomasE. Donnall ThomasDr. Edward Donnall Thomas is an American physician, professor emeritus at the University of Washington, and director emeritus of the clinical research division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In 1990 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph E. Murray for the...
(Medicine, 1990) - James Dewey Watson (Medicine, 1962)
Past AHA presidents
- Edd Doerr
- Michael W. Werner
- Suzanne I. Paul
- Lyle L. Simpson
- Bette Chambers
- Lloyd L. MorainLloyd MorainLloyd L. Morain was an American businessman, philanthropist, writer, environmentalist, art collector and film producer, who uniquely served two terms as President of the American Humanist Association .-Life and career:...
- Robert W. McCoy
- Vashti McCollumVashti McCollumVashti Cromwell McCollum was the plaintiff in a landmark 1948 Supreme Court case that struck down religious education in the public schools. The defendant in the McCollum case was the school district of Champaign, Illinois, wherein instructors chosen by three religious faiths had taught classes...
AHA board
The then-current AHA board all signed, these being:- Melvin LipmanMel LipmanMelvin Lipman is an attorney and civil libertarian living in Las Vegas, Nevada.Though currently retired from full-time legal practice, Lipman works as an arbitrator and mediator while teaching constitutional law at the Nevada campus of the University of Phoenix.Lipman is president of the American...
(president) - Lois Lyons (vice president)
- Ronald W. Fegley (secretary)
- John NugentJohn NugentJohn Nugent may refer to:* John Nugent , journalist and agent of United States President James Buchanan* John F. Nugent , United States Senator from Idaho* John Cullen Nugent, Canadian sculptor...
(treasurer) - Wanda Alexander
- John Cole
- Tom FerrickTom FerrickTom Ferrick, Jr. is senior editor of Metropolis, a local news and information site based in Philadelphia that debuted in December, 2009. Prior to that, Ferrick worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He had been a columnist at the Inquirer since 1998 but left...
- Robert Finch
- John M. Higgins
- Herb Silverman
- Maddy Urken
- Mike Werner
Drafting committee
Finally, there was the drafting committee of:- Fred EdwordsFred EdwordsFred Edwords, born July 19, 1948, in San Diego, California, is a longtime agnostic humanist leader in Washington DC.Currently national director of the United Coalition of Reason, he is the former director of communications and director of planned giving for the American Humanist Association, an...
(chair) - Edd Doerr (also included above as a past president of the AHA)
- Tony Hileman
- Pat Duffy Hutcheon
- Maddy Urken
See also
- Amsterdam Declaration 2002, a similar document from the International Humanist and Ethical UnionInternational Humanist and Ethical UnionThe International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...
.