Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism Published on behalf of the American Humanist Association and The Institute for Humanist Studies Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism Editor John R. Shook, American Humanist Association Consulting Editor Anthony Pinn, Rice University, USA Editorial Board Louise Antony, University of Massachusetts, USA; Arthur Caplan, New York University, USA; Patricia Churchland, University of California, USA; Franz de Waal, Emory University, USA; Peter Derkx, University of Humanistics, Netherlands; Greg Epstein, Harvard University, USA; Owen Flanagan, Duke University, USA; James Giordano, Georgetown University, USA; Rebecca Goldstein, USA; Anthony Clifford Grayling, New College of the Humanities, United Kingdom; Susan Hansen, University of Pittsburgh, USA; Jennifer Michael Hecht, USA; Marian Hillar, Houston Humanists, USA; Sikivu Hutchinson, Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, USA; Philip Kitcher, Columbia University, USA; Stephen Law, University of London, United Kingdom; Cathy Legg, University of Waikato, New Zealand; Jonathan Moreno, University of Pennsylvania, USA; Stephen Pinker, Harvard University, USA; Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Purdue University, USA; Michael Shermer, The Skeptics Society, USA; Alistair J. Sinclair, Centre for Dualist Studies, United Kingdom; Stan van Hooft, Deakin University, Australia; Judy Walker, USA; Sharon Welch, Meadville Theological Seminary, USA Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism publishes scholarly papers concerning philosophical, historical, or interdisciplinary aspects of humanism, or that deal with the application of humanist principles to problems of everyday life. EPH encourages the exploration of aspects and applications of humanism, in the broadest sense of “philosophical” as a search for self-understanding, life wisdom, and improvement to the human condition. The topic of humanism is also understood to embrace its thoughtful manifestations across the widest breadth of cultures and historical periods, and non-western perspectives are encouraged. Inquiry into humanism may also focus on its contemporary affirmation of a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms the ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. EPH welcomes multi-disciplinary approaches that arouse broad interest across the humanities and social sciences, and inspire attention to novel and needed developments to humanistic thinking. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism is published twice a year, in print and online, by Equinox Publishing Ltd., Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX Manuscripts should be submitted in accordance with the guidelines supplied on our web site (http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index. php/EPH/index). The Journal does not publish unsolicited reviews; please contact the Editor before submitting a review. Information for Subscribers: Information about Equinox Publishing Ltd, and subscription prices for the current volume are available at www. equinoxpub.com Canadian customers/residents please add 5% for GST onto the American price. Prices include second-class postal delivery within the UK and air mail delivery elsewhere. Postmaster: Send address changes to International Journal for the Study of New Religions, Equinox Publishing Ltd., Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX. Sample Requests, New Orders, Renewals, Claims/Other Subscription Matters: For details contact: Journals Department, Equinox Publishing Ltd., at the address above. Payments should be made out to Equinox Publishing Ltd. No cancellations after dispatch of first issue. Any cancellation is subject to £10.00 handling fee. Claims for missing issues must be made within 30 days of dispatch of issue for UK customers, 60 days elsewhere. Back issues: Contact Equinox Publishing Ltd. Indexing & Abstracting: Philosophy Research Index; PhilPapers; The Philosopher’s Index. Advertising: For details contact Journals Department, Equinox Publishing Ltd at the above address or email: [email protected] Copyright: All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means without the prior written permission of the Publisher, or in accordance with the terms of photocopying licenses issued by the organizations authorized by the Publisher to administer reprographic reproduction rights. Authorization to photocopy items for educational classroom use is granted by the Publisher provided the appropriate fee is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA from whom clearance should be obtained in advance. This journal participates in CrossRef, the collaborative reference linking service that turns citations into hyperlinks. © Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2016 Typeset and edited by Caufield Typesetting and Editing, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism (print) ISSN 1522-7340 Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism (online) ISSN 2052-8388 Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Antony Rowe. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism Volume 24.2 December 2016 Articles Reconstructing Photohumanism: Pluralistic Humanism, 115 Democracy, and the Anthropocene Tibor Solymosi The Economics of Exceptionalism: The US and the 135 International Criminal Court Tiphaine Dickson Poems of Man: Thomas Mann’s Ideas About a New 149 Humanism Jeroen Vanheste Do You Need God for Meaning and Purpose? 167 Gleb Tsipursky Humanism and Public Policy in Germany: The Point Is to 177 Change the World. Interview with Frieder Otto Wolf Otto Wolf and Charles Murn The Problem of Evil and Liberal Theologies 187 William R. Patterson Naturalistic Transcendentalism 207 Peter Bishop Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism 24.2 (2016) 115–134 ISSN 1522-7340 (print) ISSN 2052-8388 (online) doi:10.1558/eph.31443 Reconstructing Photohumanism: Pluralistic Humanism, Democracy, and the Anthropocene Tibor Solymosi Mercyhurst University [email protected] Abstract Roy Scranton argues for a new philosophical humanism as the best response to the existential crisis of the Anthropocene, the new geological epoch for which human industrial activity is responsible. This threat from climate change, Scranton argues, is better met through what he calls photohumanism than by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) alone. This new humanism shares many affinities with pluralistic humanism. A key concern is political action, which is problematized by what Tschaepe calls dopamine democracy. Scranton shares this concern, but his approach puts too great an emphasis on binaries, such as culture and nature, mind and body, and life and death. I offer the philosophical method of reconstruction, as situated within pluralistic humanism and the philosophy of John Dewey. In introducing the need for reconstruction as a method for doing philosophy in a new but ancient sense of learning to die, I reconstruct photohumanism and offer the Deweyan ideal of democracy for overcoming the problem of the Anthropocene. Keywords Humanism, Environmentalism, Pluralism, Climate Change, Anthropocene, Democracy, STEM, Humanities Roy Scranton proposes a new form of humanism, photohumanism, as an alter- native conception of human being in the age of climate change. In Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization, he argues that humans are living in the most philosophical of times because the ancient view of philosophy as preparation for death is now scaled up from an individual life to a global way of life, namely Western civilization in its neoliberal and carbon-fueled form. Where most of our culture takes the position that not only is climate change a problem with a solution but also a problem whose © Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2016, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX 116 Pluralistic Humanism, Democracy, and the Anthropocene solution is to be found in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Scranton challenges this orthodoxy by claiming that the problem is wicked, which is to say not solvable in the manner most Westerners (espe- cially Americans) believe, and that the response to this problem is not found in STEM but in the humanities generally and philosophy particularly. As a philosopher, I find such a line of thought pleasing, but I also, as a phi- losopher, find aspects of his position, especially his philosophical position of photohumanism problematic (if promising). Scranton is not the only person from the humanities to reflect upon the significance of the Anthropocene; his reflection, however, does offer a new role for the arts and humanities gener- ally and philosophical humanism particularly. Given what I have introduced as pluralistic humanism (2015), I believe there are important affinities and interesting contrasts to be made between Scranton’s position and mine. In what follows, I explore the two positions in an effort to embolden the larger concern for both Scranton and myself: What does it mean to live a meaning- ful human life in which community precedes ethics and the human-environ- ment relationship is reimagined? The discord between photohumanism and pluralistic humanism is that despite Scranton’s best efforts there remain atavistic binaries between peace and