ESSAYS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMANISM Volume 21 (1) ~ 2013 A journal of the American Humanist Association ESSAYS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMANISM Volume 21 (1), 2013 The American Humanist Association Washington, DC Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism John R. Shook, Editor Editorial Board A. C. Grayling New College of the Humanities, UK Alistair J. Sinclair Centre for Dualist Studies, Scotland Arthur Caplan New York University, USA Cathy Legg University of Waikato, New Zealand Charlene Haddock Seigfried Purdue University, USA Franz de Waal Emory University, USA Greg Epstein Harvard University, USA James Giordano Georgetown University, USA Jennifer Michael Hecht New York, USA Jonathan Moreno University of Pennsylvania, USA Judy Walker Colorado, USA Louise Antony University of Massachusetts, USA Marian Hillar Founding Editor of EPH, Houston Humanists, USA Michael Shermer The Skeptics Society, USA Owen Flanagan Duke University, USA Patricia Churchland University of California, San Diego, USA Peter Derkx University of Humanistic Studies, The Netherlands Philip Kitcher Columbia University, USA Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Massachusetts, USA Sharon Welch Meadville Theological Seminary, USA Sikivu Hutchinson LA County Commission on Human Relations, USA Stan Van Hooft Deakin University, Australia Stephen Law University of London, UK Stephen Pinker Harvard University, USA Susan B. Hansen University of Pittsburgh, USA Tony Pinn Rice University, USA Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal published twice a year by the American Humanist Association. We invite authors to submit papers concerning philosophical, historical, or interdisciplinary aspects of humanism, or that deal with the application of humanist principles to current social issues and problems of everyday life. Authors should consult the Humanist Manifesto III and the AHA’s positions on the nature and principles of humanism, available at www.americanhumanist.org. Submissions go to [email protected]. Visit our website www.essaysinhumanism.org to subscribe, see past issues, and read additional guidelines for authors. Please call 800-837- 3792 for assistance with subscriptions and changing a mailing address. (c) Copyright 2013 American Humanist Association, 1777 T St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 ISSN 1522-7340 EPH Contents volume 21, number 1, 2013 ARTICLES 1 Evolutionary Ethics and Its Future Robert D. Finch 13 Pragmatism and the Contribution of Neuroscience to Ethics Eric Racine 31 Ingersoll’s Voice, Adler’s Vision: Motivating Humanists James Croft 49 For the Love: The Amateur Humanist Intellectual Christopher J. Kazanjian 65 Utopian Visions and the American Dream Frederic March 83 Urban Sprawl and Existentialism in Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 Tracy J. Prince 95 Are We Post-Secular? Bill Cooke HUMANIST REFLECTIONS 107 Atheism... Plus What? Richard Carrier 117 Need Humanism Be Reasonable Joseph Chuman Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism The American Humanist Association vol. 21, no. 1 (2013), 1–11 © 2013 Evolutionary Ethics and Its Future Robert D. Finch Dr. Robert Finch is professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, University of Houston. He is past president of the Humanists of Houston, and served on the AHA’s Board of Directors. Historically humans have evolved by the addition of abilities to our behavioral repertoire. Values first developed in the time of the hunter gatherers featuring such traits as strength, bravery and endurance. Men and women often stressed different values. With the advent of civilization values began to include benevolence, fairness and then the growth of knowledge, natural sciences, engineering, medicine and law. Modern humanist ethics began with the work of Hume and the utilitarians. Early humanist ethical systems stressed individual responsibility and the use of social principles. Our principles have evolved through the exercise of reason, by scientific investigation, strategic planning and by including a sense of commitment. Humanism is to be found in a variety of institutions stressing different values, theories and strategic plans. Furthermore humanism is not a finished product, so that the expanding circle of the membership contemplates an evolving set of principles, as well as continuing narratives of our progress. We conclude that there is no quintessential humanist. How then should we strive to improve our definitions, manifestos, practices, reasoning and narratives? 1. Introduction I have been interested in the subject of humanist ethics for some years. I am beginning to see a complete picture now which I hope to sketch for you today, although I still sense gaps in my knowledge which need to be filled in. Ethics is a wide subject and perhaps the most important one in Humanism. Moral inquiry in the West began with Protagoras, Epicurus, Socrates, Plato and other Greek philosophers. Modern humanist ethics began with the work of Hume and the utilitarians. Early humanist ethical systems stressed individual responsibility and the use of social principles. Our principles have evolved through the exercise of reason, by scientific investigation, strategic planning and by including a sense of commitment. Humanism is to be found in a variety of institutions stressing different values, theories and strategic plans. Furthermore humanism is not a finished product, so that the expanding circle of the membership contemplates an evolving set of principles, as well as continuing narratives of our progress. Everyone has a unique morality and ethology, and we conclude 2 ROBERT D. FINCH that there is no single quintessential humanist. To improve our definitions, manifestos, practices, reasoning and narratives we are obliged to evolve, to plan, and to respond as contingencies arise. The inspiration for this research struck me some time ago when the new atheists were in vogue. The new atheists of course were Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens, all of whom had recently written books denying the existence of God. It occurred to me that a consequence of this spate of activity was that there would be a renewed need for books on non-theistic ethics. I had been writing a series of essays for our Houston Humanist and Freethought Newsletter on the very subject of ethics, and I am now turning these essays into a collection for publication. After a while the news came out that Sam Harris had produced a new book, The Moral Landscape, which seemed to confirm my prediction. There have also been several other new works on ethics published in recent months. 2. The Scope of Humanist Ethics It seems to me that the scope of ethics is really very wide, as I have tried to bring out with such questions as: • What is honorable conduct? • How do we watch our manners? • How should we behave? • What should we do? say? think? learn? • Whom, and what precepts, should we obey? • How should we examine and plan our lives? • How should we criticize others or offer constructive ideas? • How should we acquire knowledge of natural and human systems? In other words, I am arguing that ethics includes all our behavior, i.e. everything we do, say, think, plan, research and learn. Humanist ethics is a limited subset of everything humans do. I advocate a humanistic ethics sharing the following characteristics: It is evolutionary (inspired by Charles Darwin, Julian Huxley, Edward O. Wilson). It is atheistic (or Nietzschean vs Christian). It is part of Ethology (i.e., of the study of animal behavior). It is part of Sociology (inspired by Auguste Comte, Talcott Parsons, and James Q. Wilson). It includes such topics as conscience, manners, honor, planning, and morals. Evolutionary Ethics and Its Future 3 It includes some instinctive behavior which has survival value today (fear, food, shelter and sex), although there are other instincts we could probably do without nowadays. It includes humanistic behavior based on both emotion and reason (think both of David Hume and Immanuel Kant). It includes values and social systems which may be regarded as both measures and structures. It involves situational assessments and modifications of behavior which may be used to eliminate problems. It may include instincts, values, and principles to suit different situations. It requires humanists to constitute ethical communities. And, finally, it should be forward looking, as we learn, evolve, and find new visions for the future. The non-theist’s basis for ethical thinking does not include divine sanctions or supernatural revelations. The basis of our ethical knowledge is subjective emotion and meaning and our best understanding of the natural world, which we could call truth. Objective knowledge is what we can share with other people through language, reason, logic, and mathematics. Hence we have built up natural science and cosmology, biology, psychology, and social theory. We use the same cognitive tools in art, and in inventing systems for business and economics. Finally, we see ethics as part of the practical panoply of politics and law, and of the engineered world. We expand on humanist ethical thinking by considering possible behavior and situations, in relation to our naturalist worldview. Our individual lives are controlled by our brains. The subjective part of our behavior is governed by emotions. Plants do not have emotions. It is only members of the animal kingdom who need instinctive direction for their behavior. It was only a few hundred years ago that people still believed thought was centered in the heart. And even after the brain came to be recognized as important, people still believed in the existence of a soul which they supposed departed the body at the time of death. We now know that our mental existence is the proper province of psychology and cognitive science. Our lifestances are governed by instinct, psychology, ethics, and individual management. 3. Basic Drives Consider the complexities of the behavior of animals as they move around to satisfy needs for breathing, nutrition, reproduction, fleeing from danger, finding shelter, and so forth. Biologists tell us that animals have various urges based on chemical potentials associated 4 ROBERT D.