On Humanism

Humanism (manngildisstefna, literally “the doctrine of human dignity”) is a general term for the philosophy, worldview, or life-stance that is based on naturalism (or realism/objectivism), that is, the conviction that the universe or nature is all that exists or is real. The core of humanist ethics is to rely on value judgments grounded in facts about life and in the moral values found within life and within our society. Humanism therefore seeks philosophically reasoned ways to explain ourselves, morality, and society.

Humanism relies on scientific methods to understand the living world, our environment on Earth, and the cosmos. It rejects hypotheses based on unsupported traditions, mysticism, or revelations. The humanist life-stance is based on a moral conviction rather than faith. Human-rights conventions therefore refer both to freedom of conviction and freedom of religion.

One may say that humanism has existed within human nature from the beginning, as can be seen for example in our ability to read nature, to make tools, and to protect one another through strong moral bonds. Human beings have needed considerable realism in order to survive. Unlike many religious doctrines, humanism holds that the origin of good and evil lies in the tensions among people concerning the quality of life and the regulation of their emotions and interests, rather than in supernatural “good or evil forces.”

In humanism, the human being is regarded as free and capable of taking responsibility for their actions and future direction, rather than as a plaything of fate or the will of the gods. In humanism there are “no excuses,” as Simone de Beauvoir once expressed regarding the responsibility of human beings to take their lives into their own hands rather than hide behind traditions or unfair rules in family life, religion, or society. Human beings bear responsibility and must assume it themselves.

The aims of humanists are grounded in the values of beneficence, freedom, justice, and that which strengthens bonds of friendship and family life. Social values such as trust, peace, security, democracy, equality, education, reasoned discussion, freedom of speech, and solidarity in building social infrastructure from which all benefit—especially those in hardship—are intertwined with the well-being of individuals.

Humanism emphasizes this ethical refinement within the structure of society and the importance of the personal development of individuals through learning and the cultivation of sound critical thinking, in which responsible moral vision, logical reasoning, and epistemic competence (healthy skepticism) go hand in hand.

Humanism is also marked by universalism (cosmopolitanism), according to which the moral values of people are fundamentally the same regardless of where they live on Earth. At the same time, cultural supremacy and doctrines of special privilege are rejected as incompatible with equal respect for persons and beneficence without discrimination. Humanism holds that we can learn much from one another across the world and enjoy the Earth without creating unnecessary barriers.

Alternative Understandings of the Concept

1) Religious humanism.
So-called religious humanism exists and is based on the recognition that the believer’s god is not the only matter of importance, but that things concerning human beings themselves also matter without theological explanations. Congregations in the United States hold such views. The Unitarians there are close to this position and tend to have only a loose connection to the concept of God.

In earlier centuries, so-called deists believed in the existence of God but that he no longer intervened in human affairs after creating the world. Responsibility for morality therefore rested entirely with human beings. Many of the so-called Founding Fathers of the United States were deists, among whom Thomas Jefferson is perhaps the best known.

2) Mystical interpretations.
So-called Siloists (an Argentine movement that became international) described themselves as humanists but are defined as neo-humanists. They are only partly naturalists, as they venerate a sacred mountain called Silo, and their founder composed poetry about it containing mystical elements. Siloists have operated in Iceland and for a time maintained a political party connected with their activities.

3) Personal reinterpretations.
Throughout history people have used the term in many ways, often with little or no relation to the ethical humanism of realism. The popular Israeli non-fiction author Yuval Noah Harari, who wrote the bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011), later published Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. In that book he adopted his own terminology and described humanism as the foundation of ideologies that place the human being or the individual at the center of everything. Thus capitalism, Nazism, totalitarian communism, human exploitation of nature, and other self-centered attitudes were presented as characteristic of humanism. Harari appears here rather to be describing anthropocentrism than the generally accepted meaning of humanism. Unfortunately, this work spreads an understanding of humanism that is the opposite of the traditional one and may cause considerable confusion in discussions of humanism.

Historical Use of the Term

Historically, the term itself—and later organizations named after humanism—was first used at the end of the sixteenth century for European Christian “humanists” who encouraged independent study of literature and philosophy without religious control, that is, the humanities. Gradually this independence grew, especially after the French Revolution, ushering in the Age of Enlightenment. Courageous writers who openly declared atheism began to appear in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–1776), who famously argued against the existence of miracles.

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The Development of Humanist Organizations

At the end of the nineteenth century, freethought societies in Britain and the United States and ethical culture clubs began to form, separating themselves from churches and religion. Some of these groups also described themselves as rationalists.

The English rationalist G. J. Holyoake introduced the term secular in 1851 to describe a humanism concerned with everyday life and rejecting belief in supernatural powers.

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In 1929, the American Unitarian minister Charles Francis Potter (1885–1962) founded The First Humanist Society of New York. Its advisory board included prominent figures such as Julian Huxley (the first director of UNESCO), John Dewey, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Mann. At the time, humanism was presented as a new religion even though it did not involve belief in God. Potter was a strong advocate for women’s rights, easier access to contraception, civil divorce laws, and the abolition of the death penalty. He and his wife Clara Cook Potter published the book Humanism: A New Religion.

Shortly thereafter, several notable humanists published a text in 1933 called The Humanist Manifesto. The Potters’ book and the Manifesto became cornerstones of modern humanist thought, even though both works referred to humanism as a religion rather than necessarily as faith.

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One of the most influential figures of the twentieth century was the English philosopher, mathematician, and humanist Bertrand Russell (1872–1970). His lecture “Why I Am Not a Christian” from 1927 attracted widespread attention. Russell received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.”

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In 1941, the American Humanist Association was founded. Among its notable supporters were the writers Isaac Asimov and Kurt Vonnegut, the latter serving as honorary president until his death in 2007. In the United States there are still groups of religious humanists, most of whom are nevertheless non-theistic. The term “religious” has caused difficulties, since their definition does not involve belief in God. This contradictory terminology has persisted partly because organizations classified as religious receive tax advantages comparable to those of traditional religious institutions.

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In 1952, umbrella organizations for these movements were established in Amsterdam, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). At its first world congress, a declaration outlining the fundamental principles of humanism—the Amsterdam Declaration - was adopted as the official statement of humanists worldwide.

At the fiftieth anniversary of the congress in 2002, humanists gathered again in the Netherlands and approved an updated version (the Amsterdam Declaration 2002). Siðmennt, the first humanist organization in Iceland, translated and adopted that declaration in 2005. In 2019, the international organization changed its name to Humanists International for simplicity. On the seventieth anniversary of the Amsterdam Declaration it was revised again and is now known as the Amsterdam Declaration 2022. This declaration forms part of the worldview foundation of Flourishing, and a translation of it may be read here.

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The Nordic Countries and Iceland

In Norway, a humanist life-stance organization was founded in 1956 and soon began conducting its own ceremonies—the first in the Nordic countries to do so. Some Icelanders were aware of freethought movements and rationalist societies in neighboring countries, especially those who adopted socialist views rejecting the overwhelming power of religion and capital.

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The Nobel Prize-winning author Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902–1998) was widely read and had lived abroad. In the book Halldór Laxness – Selected Works one can find his essay “The Beginning of Humanism” (1963), in which he describes the tragedy of the literary repression imposed by Christianity in medieval Europe. Among the exceptions, he notes, were the writings of Icelandic saga authors such as Snorri Sturluson.

Humanism, he argued, later came to Europe’s rescue, liberating people from the bondage that religion had imposed. The Nobel laureate wrote these memorable words (p. 719):

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“Humanism carried within it the awakening of Europe; it opened the way for new thought, new literary movements, the renewal of all the arts, architecture not least of all. Humanism meant that the whole of society could begin to breathe freely. Suddenly people could write and read the books they wished without some pope rushing in to hang them; they could create art as they desired without trembling before the Holy Office—this is the climate of humanism.”

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In the early years of the twenty-first century, the term life-stance organization began to gain currency as a concept for associations dealing with important personal convictions of individuals, for example concerning morality, whether grounded in religion or in secular philosophy.

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The efforts of humanists in Iceland within Siðmennt (founded in 1990) to secure equal rights for secular life-stance organizations in relation to the state achieved significant success in 2013, although full equality has not yet been achieved with respect to certain state funding arrangements (and other matters) enjoyed by the national church. In that year the Althing confirmed new legislation on religious and life-stance organizations granting the right to perform legally recognized marriages and to receive a share of the parish-fee system.