Since our last issue, the political pendulum has swung decisively back to populism away from progressivism. Most humanists are united in their dislike of Donald Trump, but is he really a fascist or was this electioneering hyperbole? Whatever the truth of the matter, for the next four years humanists will be pondering how to respond to the new reality.
Our main theme this month is “values”. Trying to pin down humanist values is relatively easy. We believe in reason, rationality, tolerance, autonomy, empathy, living a good life and so on. But putting the spotlight on values can reveal interesting differences in emphasis. For example, Dr George Askwith in her article this month includes inclusivity, equality, social justice, and environmental responsibility in her list of humanist values. Another humanist might emphasise liberty, meritocracy, and human flourishing. Digging deeper into humanist values can help us to understand and tolerate different points of view in the global humanist community.
Jeremy Rodell believes that we need to foster a shared set of values in our diverse society. Dr Barry Newman outlines the main philosophical ethical theories and how these might help humanists to solve ethical dilemmas, and Dr Anthony Lewis asks whether science helps us understand the cognitive processes that underlie how we develop our values. Sophy Robinson asks why corporate values have become so fashionable in recent years and Maggie Hall looks at how social and legal reforms of the past led to today’s liberal moral values. Dr Mike Flood investigates new moral dilemmas posed by chatbots and avatars while Aaron laments the loss of Gene Roddenberry’s “golden vision”.
We’re delighted to welcome back Baluku Shafik Siriwayo, a 16-year-old student at Isaac Newton High School, who writes about parental violation of children’s rights, and we’re very happy to share a new interview published by Canada’s New Enlightenment Project on how to reconcile Enlightenment values and woke values.
There’s so much more in this issue of Humanistically Speaking, but we hope that’s enough to whet your appetite. We also hope you will share our articles on social media. You’re free to republish them in your own humanist newsletters and elsewhere, as long as you credit the author and provide a link to Humanistically Speaking. For more details, refer to our Creative Commons licence by following the links at the bottom of every page.
We’ll be back in February, and in the meantime we wish you a happy and peaceful winter season. If you’d like to contribute an article or news report, do get in touch.
Thank you for your encouragement, friendship and support.
David Warden
I always felt thst despite some minor differences we British felt that we shared the same values as our American cousins. Recent events have proven otherwise. How sad and disappointing.