Discussion:
Humanism or Objective Ethics?
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OE
2015-05-06 17:18:08 UTC
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"Humanism is a religion. It is a faith in the New God: Human, his Reason
and his Sacred Well-Being. It is based on the belief in the good nature
of human. But is the human nature good? Of course, not. Humans are
egoistic, violent and stupid. The only good they are capable of, "love",
has animal roots: sexuality and empathy. Human reason - their
distinctive feature - is unable to come up with the good on its own, so
humans use their reason for evil deeds. They kill, exploit and lie to
each other. Their societies are oppressive and unfair. And, worst of
all, they like it this way! All they want is more money, more fame, more
power. This is their view of happiness which humanism seeks to preserve
and promote under a false pretense of "peace" and "compassion".

Humanism, however, takes a step in the right direction as compared with
other religions: it calls for intelligent discussion and peaceful
compromise, but it does not specify the final goal and it does not have
solid philosophical foundations. It is based on wrong assumptions. The
reality is grim. Humans is, obviously, an advanced life form as compared
to animals, but due to their commitment to violence humans should be
classified only as an intermediate or transitional form between animals
and free beings. The intelligent, ethical humans are still far and few
between. They are silenced and moved to the fringes of society. Whether
humans will become free beings remains to be seen, but in any case the
way to the future is Objective Ethics. There is no other way."

(From: http://ethical-liberty.com/humanism-objective-ethics.htm)

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gary100dm
2015-06-05 23:40:23 UTC
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... but due to their commitment to violence humans should be
classified only as an intermediate or transitional form ...
SAYS WHO?!
On what evidence?

Violence among humans is obviously in evidence but so is cooperation and 1,000s of everyday acts of kindness...

quoting Stephen Jay Gould... sadly he's already been forgotten by a humanist movement that should never forget ...

" History is made by warfare, greed, lust for power, hatred, and zenophobia... . We therefore often assume that these obviously human traits define our essential nature. How often have we been told that 'man' is, by nature, aggressive and selfishly acquisitive?

" ... What do we see on any ordinary day on the streets or in the homes of any American City -- even in the subways of New York? Thousands of tiny and insignificant acts of kindness and consideration. We step aside to let someone pass, smile at a child, chat aimlessly with an acquaintance or even with a stranger. At most moments, on most days, in most places, what do you ever see of the dark side -- perhaps a parent slapping a child or a teenager on a skateboard cutting off an old lady? ... I'm only trying to make a statistical point."
Stephen Jay Gould. (essay collection) Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History. "Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness," p. 280 .

* The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape our history.
o "Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness", p. 282

* I am not [...] asserting that humans are either genial or aggressive by inborn biological necessity. Obviously, both kindness and violence lie within the bounds of our nature because we perpetrate both, in spades. I only advance a structural claim that social stability rules nearly all the time and must be based on an overwhelmingly predominant (but tragically ignored) frequency of genial acts, and that geniality is therefore our usual and preferred response nearly all the time. [...] [T]he center of human nature is rooted in ten thousand ordinary acts of kindness that define our days.
o "Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness", p. 282

on the kindness of humans

"I believe people are wonderful. The vast majority of people have never hurt anybody in their lives, don't want killing, don't want wars. In all the countries of the world, they just want to love their families and get on with their lives."
from an interview in Progressive Magazine, March 2013
-- Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for their efforts to end the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Maguire and Williams co-founded Peace People
(From: http://ethical-liberty.com/humanism-objective-ethics.htm)
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