secular humanism — LLMpedia

secular humanism
Name	Secular humanism
Caption	Humanist symbol
Region	Western philosophy
Era	Modern philosophy
Main influences	Renaissance, Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, Greek philosophy, Roman law
Notable figures	John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Paine, Karl Marx, Voltaire

Contents

secular humanism Secular humanism is a nonreligious worldview emphasizing human reason, ethics, and justice while rejecting supernaturalism. It draws on intellectual traditions that include Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution thinkers and has informed debates in public life involving figures such as John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Paine, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.

Definition and Principles

Secular humanism centers on naturalistic explanations found in Scientific Revolution, Empiricism, Rationalism, Enlightenment, and Humanism (Western) traditions, prioritizing critical inquiry exemplified by Francis Bacon, René Descartes, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Locke. Core principles include reliance on Scientific method, affirmation of individual rights associated with Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, commitment to secular governance linked to First Amendment to the United States Constitution debates, and ethical frameworks inspired by Utilitarianism, Deontology, and humanist writings by John Stuart Mill and Peter Singer. Institutional neutrality toward religion is argued in contexts involving United Nations human rights instruments, the European Court of Human Rights, and constitutional disputes such as McCreary County v. ACLU and Lemon v. Kurtzman jurisprudence.

Roots trace to classical antiquity through Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and to Roman thinkers like Cicero and Marcus Aurelius before flowering in the Renaissance with figures such as Erasmus, Giordano Bruno, and Niccolò Machiavelli. The Scientific Revolution and authors like Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton shifted epistemic authority toward observation, while Enlightenment philosophers—Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Baron de Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison—advanced secular civic ideals. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments feature contributions from Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, Matthew Arnold, and contemporary public intellectuals such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Steven Pinker. Organizational emergence includes groups like American Humanist Association, British Humanist Association, and educational initiatives influenced by John Dewey and debates in institutions like Harvard University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University.

Beliefs emphasize naturalism reflected in scientific discussions involving Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, Francis Crick, and James Watson, and ethical positions grounded in human welfare debates tied to Utilitarianism and thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Moral reasoning is often framed through case studies from public health and bioethics involving World Health Organization protocols, controversies resembling Roe v. Wade, and bioethical scholarship by Peter Singer and Jürgen Habermas. Advocacy for civil liberties intersects with efforts by American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, and legal milestones like Brown v. Board of Education and international treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Emphasis on secular education connects to reformers like Horace Mann and curricular debates in national legislatures and school boards.

Major organizations include the American Humanist Association, Humanists International, British Humanist Association (now Humanists UK), Center for Inquiry, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Secular Coalition for America, and campus groups at universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge. Movements often intersect with advocacy networks like American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and policy campaigns involving actors such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Greta Christina, Tom Flynn, Paul Kurtz, and Susan Jacoby.

Critiques arise from religious institutions including the Catholic Church, World Council of Churches, Southern Baptist Convention, and scholars in Vatican dialogues, as well as from philosophers like Alasdair MacIntyre and theologians such as Karl Barth and Cornelius Van Til. Political controversies surface in courtroom battles like Engel v. Vitale, Lemon v. Kurtzman, and public disputes involving Creation–evolution controversy, Scopes Trial, Dover School District case, and cultural flashpoints involving Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. Internal debates concern secularism’s relation to multiculturalism, identity politics, and critiques by thinkers including Charles Taylor, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Martha Nussbaum.

Secular humanist ideas have influenced literature and arts through authors such as Voltaire, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Arthur C. Clarke, and Philip Roth; science and education policy in institutions like Royal Society, Max Planck Society, and National Academy of Sciences; and public policy in legislative arenas from United States Congress debates to European Union policy forums. Impact is visible in legal precedents like Everson v. Board of Education and international human rights law at the United Nations General Assembly, and in social movements tied to suffrage, civil rights, reproductive rights, and secular ethics led by figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, and Simone de Beauvoir.