SECULAR HUMANISM

1. SECULAR HUMANISM PHILIP KITCHER

2. DEWEY AND JAMES REVISITED • JAMES’ CENTRAL PROBLEM: RECONCILING SCIENCE AND RELIGION • FOR DEWEY THIS IS ONE PROBLEM. • ONE TASK ARISING WITHIN THE PROJECT OF DEVELOPING A LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC WORLD-VIEW

3. A SHARED ASSUMPTION • BOTH JAMES AND DEWEY TAKE THE PROBLEM TO ARISE BECAUSE BELIEF IN TRANSCENDENT (SUPERNATURAL) BEINGS HAS BECOME IMPOSSIBLE. • THAT IS NOT OUR PREDICAMENT. • RELIGIONS JAMES AND DEWEY THOUGHT DISCREDITED FLOURISH TODAY.

4. THE ARGUMENT FROM SYMMETRY • BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF TRANSCENDENT BEINGS RESTS ON THE SAME GROUNDS IN ALL CASES. • THOSE GROUNDS ESSENTIALLY INVOLVE TRANSMISSION FROM EPISODES OF REVELATION IN THE DISTANT PAST. • BUT THE CHARACTER OF THE BEINGS REVEALED IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT CASES.

5. FURTHER … • THE PROCESSES THROUGH WHICH RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES EVOLVE ARE NOT CONDUCIVE TO THE DELIVERY OF TRUTH. • THE PROCESSES THROUGH WHICH PEOPLE COME TO BELIEVE ARE NOT CONDUCIVE TO THE DELIVERY OF TRUTH. • RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES ARE FRAMED IN THE CATEGORIES MADE AVAILABLE BY RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS.

6. “AGNOSTO-ATHEISM” • ALL THE VIEWS OF THE TRANSCENDENT PROPOSED IN THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY FALSE. • APPLICATION OF ANY CONCEPT – EVEN PERSON, OR MIND, OR CREATOR – IS UNWARRANTED. • WE CANNOT TELL IF FUTURE DISCOVERIES WILL RECOGNIZE SOMETHING PLAUSIBLY VIEWED AS “TRANSCENDENT”.

7. THE VARIETIES OF RELIGION • NOT ALL RELIGIONS INVOKE TRANSCENDENT ENTITIES. • NOT ALL RELIGIONS INVOKE “THE TRANSCENDENT”. • BUT TYPES OF LITERALISM ARE COMMON.

8. EXTREME LITERALISM • THE CREATION STORY IS LITERALLY TRUE. • HENCE ALL THE MAJOR TYPES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS CAME INTO BEING AT THE SAME TIME. • HENCE THE VIEWS OF COSMOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE ARE ALL WRONG.

9. LESS EXTREME LITERALISM • “JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD” IS LITERALLY TRUE. • THAT IS: THERE WAS A TIME AT WHICH THE BEING WE KNOW AS JESUS WAS LITERALLY DEAD, AND A LATER TIME AT WHICH HE WAS FULLY ALIVE.

10. NON-LITERALISM • “JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD” IS NOT LITERALLY TRUE; THE SENTENCE EXPRESSES AN IMPORTANT TRUTH ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DEEDS AND CHARACTER OF JESUS FOR HUMAN LIFE. • DEFINITE INTERPRETATION • INDEFINITE INSPIRATION

11. FAITH • DOCTRINAL – BELIEF IN THE TRUTH OF DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. (BEYOND THE EVIDENCE???) • ORIENTATIONAL – COMMITMENT TO VALUES EXPRESSED (NON-LITERALLY) IN RELIGIOUS TEXTS. DOCTRINES PLAY A ROLE IN REINFORCING THESE VALUES AND IN INSPIRING CONDUCT.

12. DEWEY’S “COMMON FAITH” • ABANDONS THE TRANSCENDENT. • ABANDONS LITERALISM. • COMMITTED TO RELIGIONS AS ORIENTATIONS TOWARDS WHAT IS VALUABLE. • RECOGNIZES THE NEED FOR WAYS OF SUSTAINING AND PROMOTING THESE ORIENTATIONS AND VALUES.

13. A NATURAL REACTION • WHAT DEWEY PRESERVES IS TOO THIN TO DISCHARGE THE PURPOSES RELIGION HAS TRADITIONALLY SERVED. • THIS IS “RELIGION” ONLY FOR A COMFORTABLE ELITE. • IT CANNOT HOPE TO MAKE HEADWAY IN A WORLD THAT HAS RETURNED TO LITERALISM.

14. YET … • ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUS FACTS ABOUT RELIGIONS COMMITTED TO THE TRANSCENDENT IS THEIR DIVISIVENESS. • SO IT IS WORTH EXPLORING WHETHER DEWEY’S HOPE CAN BE FULFILLED. • OPENLY – BY GIVING UP DEWEY’S PRESERVATION OF RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE IN FAVOR OF FORTHRIGHT SECULAR HUMANISM.

15. CONTEMPORARY ATHEISM • SECULAR HUMANISM IS NOT MILITANT MODERN ATHEISM. • IT RECOGNIZES (AS DEWEY DID) THE ENDURING CONTRIBUTIONS OF RELIGIONS TO HUMAN LIFE.

16. I SHOULD LIKE TO TURN THE STATEMENT AROUND AND SAY THAT WHEREVER THIS CHANGE TAKES PLACE THERE IS A DEFINITELY RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE. IT IS NOT A RELIGION THAT BRINGS IT ABOUT, BUT, WHENEVER IT OCCURS, FROM WHATEVER CAUSE AND BY WHATEVER MEANS, THERE IS A RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK AND FUNCTION.

17. WHY RELIGION? • SOCIAL ROLES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE ETHICAL PROJECT. • FROM COOPERATION TO SUSTAINING REFLECTIONS ON HUMAN LIFE (THE “LARGE QUESTIONS”) • INSTITUTIONALIZED IN SOCIETIES FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

18. RESIDUAL NEEDS • DEWEY WAS RIGHT TO SEE THAT THE FUNCTIONS STILL NEED TO BE FULFILLED. • SECULAR HUMANISM APPROACHES THEM MORE OPENLY. • DISCHARGING THEM IS CRUCIAL TO REACHING THE SITUATION FROM WHICH DEWEY THOUGHT HE COULD BEGIN.

19. FUNCTIONS • COMMUNITY • MEANING • DEATH • THE DARKNESS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION

20. THE PROBLEM OF THE PUBLIC (AGAIN) • IN COMPLEX DEMOCRACIES (AND IN OTHER SOCIETIES, TOO) THERE ARE NO GOOD SURROGATES FOR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. • SERIOUS DISCUSSION • JOINT PROJECTS • IMITATIONS ARE TYPICALLY FEEBLE.

21. SOCIAL JUSTICE • THE PROBLEM IS AMELIORATED IN THE SOCIETIES WHERE THERE IS MORE SOCIAL JUSTICE. • THIS IS EXPECTED, GIVEN THE CORRELATION BETWEEN RELIGIOSITY AND VULNERABILITY.

22. MEANING • THERE IS NO GENERAL PROBLEM OF RESTORING MEANINGFULNESS IN A SECULAR FRAMEWORK. • THERE ARE PARTICULAR PROBLEMS IN PROVIDING PEOPLE WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEANINGFUL LIVES. • THESE ARISE FROM LACK OF OPPORTUNITIES AND LACK OF COMMUNITY.

23. DEATH • WHAT IS THE LURE OF IMMORTALITY? • CAN WE ENVISAGE LIFE WITHOUT PROJECTS AND ACTIVE STRIVING? • RATIONAL FEARS • PREMATURE CESSATION • THE LOSS OF OTHERS.

24. DILUTED LIBERALISM • THIS IS A SATISFACTORY PICTURE FOR COMFORTABLY INTELLECTUALS. • IT IGNORES THE DARK SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE. • BUT THERE ARE KARAMAZOVS.

25. CONCLUSIONS • THE SERIOUS CHARGES DON’T SHOW THAT A SATISFACTORY SECULAR HUMANISM IS IMPOSSIBLE. • THEY MIGHT BE ADDRESSED BY A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS (DEWEY WOULD APPROVE). • BUT WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT IT TAKES TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS TO WORK.