# Humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes human agency, reason, and welfare as the basis for ethics and meaning—without appeal to supernatural authority. Renaissance humanism recovered classical learning; Enlightenment humanism championed reason, science, and individual rights; modern secular humanism grounds ethics in human flourishing rather than divine command. [[Steven Pinker]] defends humanism as essential to [[Progress]]. Core commitments include: human dignity and rights, reason and evidence over faith, this-worldly ethics focused on reducing suffering and promoting well-being. Critics argue humanism is anthropocentric (ignoring animals, environment) or that it smuggles in values it can't justify without religion. Defenders counter that humanist ethics—rooted in empathy, reason, and expanding moral circles—has driven moral progress (abolition, rights movements). ## Core Principles | Principle | Implication | |-----------|-------------| | Human dignity | Universal rights | | Reason over faith | Evidence-based ethics | | This-worldly focus | Reduce suffering now | | Expanding moral circle | Include more beings | ## References - Pinker, Steven. *[[Enlightenment Now]]* (2018) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism ## Related - [[Progress]] - [[Steven Pinker]] - [[Enlightenment Now]] - [[Rationalism]] - [[Ethics]]