Humanism and the Enlightenment

Delacroix, Eugene (1798-1863) - 1830 Liberty Leading the People (Louvre)
Originally uploaded by RasMarley

It occurred to me on re-reading last week’s post that I was a little dismissive of Socrates. After all, he was perhaps one of the earliest documented sceptics. He was also unusual amongst sages and prophets that, instead of giving people rules to live by, Socrates demanded that people think for themselves and continually question the status quo. In Plato’s Euthyphro Socrates asks if something is good because God ordains it, or if God ordains it because it is already good. He was influential in the development not only of Ancient Greek rationalism but also that of modern humanism.

Humanism embraces modern science, democratic principles, human rights, free inquiry and the separation of Church and State. It rejects the notions of sin and guilt particularly in the area of sexual choice. I think it is a very liberating and joyful philosophy of life. It means taking control of one’s own life and finding your own answers to the great questions of life. It does not mean that anything goes or that all worldviews are equal, rather that there are objective criteria against which we should evaluate these views. Respect for the law and for human rights being amongst the most important.

The Enlightenment (1700-1800) had a profound effect not only on Humanism but also on law in the Western world with the idea expressed in the American Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal” and deserve equality under the law.(It would take another century before these concepts would be applied to women, children and non-white people as well!) The Enlightenment was opposed to the arbitrary use of power by Monarchies and the Clergy and further influenced the American Declaration of Independence with the revolutionary idea that we all have a “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” regardless of social status.

At the same time, advances in science encouraged the idea that direct observation of nature rather than reliance on sacred texts could be the answer to some of the most important questions that confront humans. Ethics and values began to be discussed for the first time since antiquity in terms of a humanist world rather than one lived in obedience to God-given rules.

John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, famous philosophers of the Enlightenment, believed that humanity, in a pursuit of a better and more civilized way of life, has agreed to an implicit ‘social contract’ through which people grant certain rights to their neighbors in order to get the same rights for themselves. However with these rights come civic responsibilities. I think most people now accept that the rights of the individual sometimes need to be balanced by the greater good of society as a whole. But I will discuss the Utilitarianism philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham and their contribution to my Atheist view of the Good Life another time!