Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher recognize that traditional, religious faith—especially in Christian theistic tradition—has virtues that seem to be missing in a secular worldview. To remedy this apparent deficit, they both propose that a secular worldview can provide a satisfying foundation for a flourishing, meaningful life. Moreover, Kitcher argues that secular humanism is far more justified...

The Council for Secular Humanism identifies Secular Humanism as a "way of thinking and living" committed to rejecting authoritarian beliefs and embracing "individual freedom and responsibility ... and cooperation." The paradigmatic practices of psychiatry are civil commitment and insanity defense, that is, depriving innocent persons of liberty and excusing guilty persons of their crimes: the co...

In this essay, I maintain that although atheism, minimally construed, consists simply of the belief there is no God or gods, atheists must embrace a secular worldview one kind another. Since they cannot be without worldview, develop an alternative to religious, especially theistic, worldviews which they, by implication, reject. Further, argue are, at very least, two options available and these ...

In his response to Szasz' Secular Humanism and Scientific Psychiatry, the author considers the use of rhetorical devices in Szasz' work, Szasz' avoidance of acknowledging psychiatry's scientific distinctions, and Szaszian libertarianism versus liberalism.

This paper addresses connections between J. R. Kantor's interbehavioral psychology and humanism. It discusses numerous ways in which interbehavioral thinking is humanistic. Kantor's naturalism and human-oriented historiography have foundations in the original humanism of Hellenic times. His secular orientation, cyclical theory of history, respect for Greek thought, independent critical thinking...

"Freethinkers," including both atheists and secular humanists, have always been a minority in American society--and not a very popular one. There are still laws in several states preventing non-theists from holding office. Just as evangelical Protestants up until one hundred years ago held a largely optimistic view of the future and the end times (known as postmillennialism), secular humanists ...

Naturalism and humanism have long histories in China, side-by-side with a long history of theistic belief. In this paper I will first sketch the early naturalistic and humanistic traditions in Chinese thought. I will then focus on the synthesis of these perspectives in Neo-Confucian religious thought. I will argue that these forms of non-theistic belief should be considered aspects of Chinese r...