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Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 106 No. 6 21.50 July/August, 2001 GUEST EDITOIHAL - A PASSAGE TO HUMANISM Recently I was discussing E.M.Forster with Tom Rubens who is presently indexing Ethical Record. A Canadian Professor is writing a biography of the pacifist Gerald Heard - who was a popular speaker to the Society and on the wireless in the 1930s before emigrating to California with Aldous Huxley - and has enquired what information we possess about him. We have three of his books, a paragraph in The Story of South Place by S.K Ratcliffe and will soon be able to itemise his talks. Torn also recalled Forster's essay on Heard (1939) in a collection of his essays, Tivo Chem for Democracy [1951 hb; Penguin 1965 pb]. The essay, in his most thoughtful and elegant prose, refers to Heard's latest book, Pain, Sex and Time (not one of ours), Heard's Change of Heart (his capitals) and spiritual retreat. The next day, reported in the Guardian, 'Naipaul derides novels of Forster, " nasty homosexual" '. In the latest Literary Review (Sir) V.S.Naipaul attacks Forster as a sexual predator more interested in seducing garden boys than understanding India (no evidence adduced) and even asserts that probably his most famous book, A Passage to India is 'utter rubbish'. No doubt it would be cynical to mark that Naipaul, a native of Trinidad, has a new book out next month. However, we note that another of the essays in Two Cheers.... discusses the eminent French writer, André Gide. Forster decides that Gide is a humanist and suggests that a humanist has four leading characteristics - curiosity, a free mind, belief in good taste and belief in the human race. To denizens of Conway Hall Humanist Centre, there is an ongoing debate as to the meaning of the humanist way of life. We hope to hold a Short Course on Humanism as an evening class in the autumn, in conjunction with the British Humanist Association, for beginners and connoisseurs alike, when criteria such as these can be dissected. The portrait of Forster in the Library by his painter cousin was presented to SPES 15 years ago. One or two of our less progressive members objected - not, I think, on literary grounds. For those who would like to practise admiring literary and intellectual expertise with a free mind, read What I BelieVe and Other Essays, by E.M. Forster, edited by the late Nicolas Walter (G.W. Foote pamphlet, £3) available from the Rationalist Press Association next door. Jennifer Jeynes THE THREE STEPS TO HUMANIST ETHICS Bill Cooke 3 BEATRICE EDGELL: PIONEER WOMAN PSYCHOLOGISTElizabeth Valentine 8 CENSORSHIP IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Ted Goodman 16 ART VERSUS ETHICS Suzette Henke 20 UTILITARIANISM & CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS Rona Gerber 23 PETER SINGER'S ETHICS Leslie Jones 25 RESUSCITATION: THE PHYSIOLOGY Harold Flillman 27 CHURCH SCHOOLS AND NEW LABOUR Barbara Smoker 29 VIEWPOINTS: Peter Neville, Peter Lonsdale, Martin Green 30 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WCIR 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8034 Fax: 020 72428036 Website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] Officers Chairman of the GC: Terry Mullins Vice Chairman: John Rayner Hon. Rep of the GC: Don Liversedge Registrar: Donald Rooum Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Administrative Secretary to the Society: Marina Ingham Tel: 020 7242 8034 Librarian/Programme Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes, M.Sc. Tel: 020 7242 8037 Lettings Manager: Peter Vlachos. For Hall bookings: Tel: 020 7242 8032 Caretakers Office Tel: 020 7242 8033 New Member Simon Scow, Salangor, Malaysia. SPES SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING, 10 JUNE 2001 The following rule changes, which are now in effect, received the requisite two- thirds majority at the above meeting:- *The General Committee shall consist of 12 elected members (not 18 as formerly); *On completion of their term of office, GC members shall be eligible for immediate re-election (confirming the intention of SGMs held in 1991 and 1995); *Election to the GC shall be by ballot, the 4 candidates having the highest net votes (votes for minus votes against) being elected for 3 years, and other vacancies (for 2 year and 1 year terms) being filled by candidates with the next highest net votes; *The GC may co-opt, without voting rights, up to 3 further members of the Society, for periods extending up to the next AGM, providing the member was not a GC condidate receiving more votes against than for them at the previous AGM; *The quorum for thc GC shall be 5 elected members (not 8 as formerly); *A member owing money to the Society may not be a member of its GC. ANNUAL REUNION OF THE KINDRED SOCIETIES 1430h Sunday 23 September 2001 in the Library, Conway Hall Keynote Speaker * Entertainment * Refreshments * All Welcome NOTICE OF Sl'ES ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 30 SEPTEMBER 2001 at 1440h, with registration from 1400h, in the Library, Conway Hall. *All subscriptions must be paid up in order to vote at the AGM. Members of less than a year's standing may not vote or stand for the General Committee. *The text of Motions for the AGM, proposed and seconded, must reach the Admin. Secretary by 31 August 2001. They will be posted in Conway Hall by 7 Sept. 2001. *Texts of Amendments must reach the Admin. Secretary by 21 September 2001 when they will be posted in Conway Hall. *There will be 7 vacancies on the General Committee to fill this year (4 for three years and 3 for two years). Completed nomination forms (posted with this issue of the ER) must be returned by 31 August 2001. *Nomination forms for Holding Trustees may be obtained from the Admin. Secretary. D. Liversedge and H. Stopes-Roe have been nominated by the GC. Ethical Record, JulylAugust 2001 THE THREE STEPS TO HUMANIST ETHICS Bill Cooke Senior Lecturer; School of Visual Arts, Manukau Institute of Technology, New -Zealand email: [email protected] Lecture to the Ethical Socim 14 Januaty 2001 I'll not be breaking any drastic new ground when I say that humanism has had a torrid time defining itself to everyone's satisfaction. Just this past century we have had pragmatic, scientific, socialist, evolutionary, cosmic, secular, neo, and, most recently, planetary humanism. And that is not to forget religious humanism. Among the people who have been called humanists are Confucius and Betty Friedan, Erasmus and Charles Bradlaugh, Karl Marx and John Dewey, Simone de Beauvoir and Somerset Maughan, Auguste Comte and Machiavelli, Jodie Foster and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And neither is there any shortfall in the epithets flung at humanism from its wide range of accusers. Depending on who one listens to humanism is communistic or individualistic, arrogant or timid, shocking or bland, godless or a rival religion, nihilistic or stifling, patriarchal or anarchistic, a dominating discourse or marginal bleating. And none of these lists is in ally way exhausted. So how, as we begin a new century, can we hope to build a coherent new understanding of humanism amid this cacophony of interpretations? I do not propose here to forge a new brand of humanism. I have thc more modest aim of trying to clarify the existing picture- of humanism, with particular reference to humanist ethics. So what is it about what we value in humanism that distinguishes us from, say, religious humanists, to say nothing of non and anti-humanists? It strikes me that it is what underpins humanism that marks it off from its many competitors and enemies. It is the foundations we build our humanism on that are as, possibly more, important than the humanism itself. Planetary Humanism Now, before carrying on, I am happy to endorse the latest manifestation of humanism - that which calls itself planetary humanism. By calling our humanism planetary, we have set the boundaries as far as can practicably be set; at the edge of our planet. Therefore, all that is within our planet is included within its arena. This is the best way to avoid the accusation of speciesism that has been a telling charge against humanism over the last couple of decades. Planetary humanism has the potential to recall humans to a suitably modest view of ourselves in the scheme of things while reminding us of our unique ability to help solve the problems that beset us. As the Humanist Manifesto 2000 has stated, the 'realities of the global society are such that only a new Planetary Humanism can provide meaningful directions for the future." But on what foundation does this planetary humanism rest? The Humanist Manifesto 2000 is equally clear. 'The unique message of humanism on the current world scene is its commitment to scientific naturalism." The manifesto goes on to say that scientific naturalism 'enables human beings to construct a coherent worldview disentangled from metaphysics or theology and based on the sciences.' The Manifesto sees this coherent worldview as composed of three main features. First, scientific naturalism is committed to a set of methodological prescriptions; second, the opportunities that the sciences afford for expanding our knowledge of nature and human behaviour are enormous; and third, naturalists maintain that there Ethical Record, JulylAngust 2001 3 is insufficient scientific evidence for spiritual interpretations of reality and the postulation of occult causes! What I would like to do here is to elaborate on these three steps because I believe they constitute the three steps to a genuine humanist ethics. I also intend to give those three steps names that we will all recognise. I don't intend to touch on the content of humanist ethics; I am entirely happy to refer people to section five of the manifesto, entitled 'ethics and reason' for that material.
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