HUMANISM

HUMANISM is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence over acceptance of dogma or superstition

DEFINITION OF TERMS AS USED HERE:

• Agency is the capacity of a person to act in any given environment.
• Critical thinking (also called critical analysis) is clear, rational thinking involving critique.
• Rational thinking is thinking that is reasonable, based on facts or reason.
•  Reason is the capacity for making sense of things, applying logic, establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information.
•  Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral communications.

The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. The term was coined by Friedrich Niethammer at the beginning of the 19th century.

Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress.

In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism, and today humanism typically refers to a non-theistic centered on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.

MORE DEFINITION OF TERMS AS USED HERE:

• Secularism is the principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. One manifestation of secularism is asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, or, in a state declared to be neutral on matters of belief, from the imposition by government of religion or religious practices upon its people. Another manifestation of secularism is the view that public activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be uninfluenced by religious beliefs and/or practices.
• Revelation In religion and theology is the delusional belief that one is communicating with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. 

CRITICAL THINKING (author unknown)

Critical thinking involves a diverse array of skills including:

• analyzing
• conceptualizing
• defining
• examining
• inferring
• listening
• questioning
• reasoning
• synthesizing

Critical thinking includes evaluating information--even our own thoughts--in a disciplined way. This helps us to refine our thought processes, which enables us to think and assess information more comprehensively and become more able to identify and reject false ideas and false ideologies.

Reasoning should be based in sound, consistent logic, not emotions or social pressure. Truth of factual claims is not determined by the emotion that accompanies them or the fact that they may be believed by certain social groups.

Some of the barriers to critical thinking are:

• intellectual arrogance
• intellectual laziness
• unwillingness to listen and learn
• lack of respect for reason
• lack of respect for evidence

Qualities of critical thinkers:

• can handle uncertainty
• prefers to be aware of their areas of ignorance
• can wait for valid evidence
• can wait for evidence-based answers

Critical thinking can give each of us our own key to intellectual independence so that we can solve our own problems for our selves.

It moves us away from rash conclusions, mystification and reluctance to question received wisdom, authority, and tradition.

It moves us towards intellectual discipline, clear expression of ideas, and acceptance of personal responsibility for our own thinking.

People who habitually apply critical thinking tend to be eager to acquire and apply the best knowledge and reason in all fields, are willing to acknowledge and correct flaws in their own thinking, and are better equipped to create more profoundly effective solutions to the challenges we face in living and living together.

When we teach and invest in critical thinking we empower individual lives and invest in our collective future.

THE WORLD NEEDS A NEW AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

If all Europeans had remained obliviously blinded by faith,
the world wouldn't have the internet, television, telephone,
and a host of other technological inventions.

Now we need another Age of Enlightenment
to stop the wars, bigotry, prejudice,
and a host of other ill-thoughts and ill-feelings.

~ Perman Wilson

The Enlightenment, which is also referred to as the Age of Reason (or alternately as the Age of Rationalism), was a period when European philosophers emphasized the use of reason as the best method for learning the truth.


Beginning in the 1600's and lasting through the 1700's, philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Voltaire (1694-1778), and John Locke (1632-1704) explored issues in education, law, and politics. They published their thoughts, issuing attacks on social injustice, religious superstition, and ignorance. Their ideas fanned the fires of the American and French revolutions in the late 1700s.