HUMANIST MANIFESTO 3
Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
The life stance of Humanism guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience, encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance.
This document is part of an ongoing effort to manifest in clear and
positive terms the conceptual boundaries of Humanism,
not what we must believe but a consensus of what we do believe. It is
in this sense that we affirm the following:
Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.
Humanists find that science is the best method for determining this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial technologies. We also recognize the value of new departures in thought, the arts, and inner experience each subject to analysis by critical intelligence.
Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change.
Humanists recognize nature as self-existing.
We accept our life as all and enough, distinguishing things as they are from things as we might wish or imagine them to be.
We welcome the challenges of the future, and are drawn to and undaunted by the yet to be known. Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Humanists ground values in human welfare shaped by human circumstances, interests, and concerns and extended to the global ecosystem and beyond.
We are committed to treating each person as having inherent worth and dignity, and to making informed choices in a context of freedom consonant with responsibility.
Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals.
We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death.
Humanists rely on the rich heritage of human culture and the life stance of Humanism to provide comfort in times of want and encouragement in times of plenty.
Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships.
Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.
Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness. Progressive cultures have worked to free humanity from the brutalities of mere survival and to reduce suffering, improve society, and develop global community.
We seek to minimize the inequities of circumstance and ability, and we support a just distribution of nature's resources and the fruits of human effort so that as many as possible can enjoy a good life.
Humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views.
We work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain that it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature's integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner.
Thus engaged in the flow of life, we aspire to this vision with the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals. The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone. Humanist Manifesto III, a successor to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933*
* Humanist ManifestoTM is a trademark of the American Humanist Association? c 2003 American Humanist Association
Humanism and Its Aspirations
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SIGNATORIES
Philip W. Anderson Nobel laureate in physics, 1977
Philip Appleman Poet and distinguished professor emeritus of English, Indiana University
Khoren Arisian Senior Leader, NY Society for Ethical Culture
Janet Jeppson Asimov Psychiatrist and science writer
Bill Baird Reproductive rights pioneer
Frank Berger Pharmacologist, developer of anti-anxiety drugs
Howard Box minister emeritus, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, Tennessee
Paul D. Boyer Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1997
Lester R. Brown Founder and president, Earth Policy Institute
August Brunsman Executive director, Secular Student Alliance
Rob Buitenweg vice president, IHEU
Vern Bullough sexologist and former copresident of the
International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)
David Bumbaugh professor, Meadville Lombard Theological School
Owen Chamberlain Nobel laureate in physics, 1959
Matt 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
Carlton Coon Former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal
Fred Cook retired executive committee member, IHEU
Francis Crick Nobel laureate in medicine, 1962
Paul J. Crutzen Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1995
Richard Dawkins
Charles Simonyi professor, University of Oxford
Charles Debrovner president, NACH/Humanist Institute
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Nobel laureate in physics, 1991
Johann Deisenhofer Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1988
Arthur Dobrin professor of humanities, Hofstra University and
leader emeritus Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, New York
Margarent Downey president, Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia
Sonja Eggerickx vice president, Unie Vrijzinnige, Belgium, and vice president, IHEU
Riane Eisler President, Center for Partnership Studies
Albert Ellis creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and founder of the Albert Ellis Institute
Edward Ericson Leader emeritus, Ethical Culture
Roy P. Fairfield Cofounder, Union Graduate School
Antony Flew Philosopher
Werner Fornos president, the Population Institute
Levi Fragell President, International Humanist and Ethical Union
Jerome I. Friedman Nobel laureate in physics, 1990
Arun Gandhi cofounder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
Kendyl Gibbons President, Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association
Sheldon Glashow Nobel laureate in physics, 1979
Babu R. R. Gogineni Executive director, International Humanist and Ethical Union
Sol Gordon Sexologist
Ethelbert Haskins retired treasurer of the Humanist Foundation
Herbert A. Hauptman Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1985
Jim Herrick Editor, the New Humanist
Dudley Herschbach Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1986
Pervez Hoodbhoy professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Fran Hosken Editor, Women?s International Network News
Jone Johnson-Lewis President, National Leaders Council of the
American Ethical Union Stefan Jonasson Immediate past president, HUUmanists
Larry Jones President, Institute for Humanist Studies
Edwin Kagin founder and director of Camp Quest
Harold W. Kroto Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1996
Beth Lamont AHA NGO representative to the United Nations
Gerald A. Larue Professor emeritus of biblical history and archaeology,University of Southern California
Yuan T. Lee Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1986
Joseph Levee Board member, Council for Secular Humanism
Ellen McBride Immediate past president, American Ethical Union
Mario J. Molina Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1995
Lester Mondale Retired Unitarian Universalist minister and signer of Humanist Manifestos I and II
Henry Morgentaler Abortion rights pioneer
Stephen Mumford President, Center for Research on Population and Security
William Murry President and dean, Meadville-Lombard Theological School
Erwin Neher Nobel laureate in medicine, 1991
Sara Oelberg President, HUUmanists
Indumati Parikh President, Center for the Study of Social Change, India
Philip Paulson church-state activist
Katha Pollitt Columnist, the Nation
Ilya Prigogine Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1977
Howard Radest Dean emeritus, the Humanist Institute
James Randi Magician, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation
Larry Reyka President, the Humanist Society
Richard J. Roberts Nobel laureate in medicine, 1993
David Schafer Retired research physiologist,
U.S. Veterans Administration
Eugenie Scott Executive director, National Center for Science Education
Michael Shermer editor of Skeptic magazine
James R. Simpson Professor of international agricultural economics, Ryukoku University, Japan
Warren Allen Smith Editor and author
Matthew Ies Spetter Associate professor in social psychology at the Peace Studies Institute of Manhattan College, NY
Oliver Stone Academy award-winning filmmaker
John E. Sulston Nobel laureate in medicine, 2002
John M. Swomley Professor emeritus of social ethics, St. Paul School of Theology
Robert Tapp Dean, the Humanist Institute
Henry Taube Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1983
Carl Thitchener co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New York
Maureen Thitchener co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New York
Rodrigue Tremblay emeritus professor of economics and of international finance, Universit de Montral, Quebec,
Canada
Kurt Vonnegut
Novelist John Weston ministerial settlement director, Unitarian Universalist Association
Sherwin Wine Founder and president, Society for Humanistic Judaism
Edward O. Wilson professor, Harvard University, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
E. Donnall Thomas Nobel laureate in medicine, 1990 All Living Past Presidents of the American Humanist Association
Edd Doerr, 1995?2002
Michael W. Werner, 1993?1994
Suzanne I. Paul, 1992
Lyle L. Simpson, 1981?1984
Bette Chambers, 1973?1979
Lloyd L. Morain, 1969?1972, 1951?1955
Robert W. McCoy, 1966?1968
Vashti McCollum, 1962?1965