Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 116 No. 2 £1.50 February 2011 NEW BIOGRAPHY OF BRADLAUGH LAUNCHED AT CONWAY HALL Author Bryan Niblett showing his new book to Rabinder Singh Sohil, 19 January 2011 Photo by Kanwal Preet daughter of Rabinder In the Brockway Room of Conway Hall, scientist and barrister Bryan Niblett presented his new biography of the courageous secularist Charles Bradlaugh MP, the founder of the National Secular Society in 1866, the book’s title being Dare to Stand Alone. Bryan had been researching in detail the legal battles which marked Bradlaugh’s tempestuous career as pioneer in social and political affairs, consulting the resources of the Humanist Reference Library at Conway Hall and the Bishopsgate Institute. Jim Herrick (who reviewed the book for The Freethinker), author Debora Lavin and Dr. Rabinder Singh Sohil, Chairman, Bradlaugh Hall Trust, India (where Bradlaugh is revered) and Asad Abbas addressed the meeting. Terry Liddle (Freethought History Research group) was too unwell to attend but his review of the book can be seen in this issue of Ethical Record. A fine review also appeared in The Independent (14 Jan). Norman Bacrac A HISTORY OF HUMANISM John Severs 3 ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE Sandra Knapp 11 Book Reviews - THE STORY OF CHARLES BRADLAUGH, ATHEIST AND REPUBLICAN by Bryan Niblett Terry Liddle 15 SOCIALISM: VISION AND REALITY by Hyman Frankel Jerry Jones 16 THE GOD VIRUS? A RESPONSE BY KEITH WARD Ian Buxton 18 Viewpoint: Physicalism And Epiphenomenalism Tom Rubens 23 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 Fax: 020 7242 8036 www.ethicalsoc.org.uk Chairman: Jim Herrick Hon. Rep.: Derek Lennard Vice-chairman: Ed McArthur Registrar: Andrew Copson Treasurer: Chris Bratcher Editor: Norman Bacrac Please email texts and viewpoints for the Editor to: [email protected] SPES Staff Finance Officer: Linda Alia Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 [email protected] Librarian: Catherine Broad Tel: 020 7242 8037 [email protected] Programme Co-ordinator: Ben Partridge Tel: 020 7242 8034 [email protected] Lettings Officer: Carina Dvorak Tel: 020 7242 8032 [email protected] Admin: Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 [email protected] Caretakers: Eva Aubrechtova (i/c) Tel: 020 7242 8033 together with: Angelo Edrozo, Alfredo Olivo, Rogerio Retuerna, Cagatay Ulker Maintenance Operative: Zia Hameed Maria Aubrechtova, who left to take another post, is thanked for her work for the Society. Dr Jim Walsh has been appointed as the new CEO. He is expected to take up his post by mid-February. New Members We welcome John Dowdle of Watford; Richard Eastburn-Hewitt of Kingston upon Thames; David Simmonds of Essex. THE HUMANIST REFERENCE LIBRARY The Humanist Reference Library is open for members and researchers on Mondays to Fridays from 0930 - 1730. Please let the Librarian, Catherine Broad, know of your intention to visit. The Library has an extensive collection of new and historic freethought material. Tel: 020 7242 8037. Email: [email protected] To receive regular news and programme updates from SPES via email, please contact Ben Partridge at [email protected]. Similarly, if you have any suggestions for speakers or event ideas, or would like to convene a Sunday afternoon informal, get in touch with Ben on 020 7242 8034. SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Reg. Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism and freethought the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in relevant fields. We invite to membership those who reject supernatural creeds and are in sympathy with our aims. At Conway Hall the programme includes Sunday lectures, discussions, evening courses and the Conway Hall Sunday Concerts of chamber music. The Society maintains a Humanist Reference Library. The Society’s journal, Ethical Record, is issued monthly. Memorial meetings may be arranged. The annual subscription is £20 (£15 if a full-time student, unwaged or over 65). 2 Ethical Record, February 2011 A HISTORY OF HUMANISM John Severs Summary of a Lecture to the Ethical Society, 21 November 2010 When researching this topic, I realised that it was multi-faceted, not simply a question of who questioned the gods, but how they came to do so. It’s my take on Humanism in the Western world and by no means exhaustive. At the time of the Ancient Greeks, although some, such as Socrates, were punished, there was more latitude than in most of the Christian era. It is telling that Thomas Jefferson, in 1821, wrote of the need to ‘encourage a hope that the human mind will someday get back to the freedom it enjoyed 2,000 years ago.’ The Classical World Theth belief that the world wasn’t necessarily ordered by gods was started in the 6 century BCE, by the ‘physical’ philosophers. According to Guthrie, in his History of Greek Philosophy, this was where philosophy originated, when ‘the conviction began to take shape in men’s minds that the apparent chaos of events must conceal underlying order, and this order is the product of impersonal forces.’ th In the 5 century BCE, the thinking of philosophers called ‘natural theologians’ laid the foundations for possible disbelief. Protagorus (481-411), made man the measure of all things, of the reality of those which are and the unreality of those which are not and said, regarding the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or what they are like to look at. Importantly, the group called the Sophists decided that religion and morality were a matter of man-made custom and therefore subject to change. Werner Jaegger, in his book, The Philosophy of the Early Greeks, states that Democritus (460-370 BCE) rejected any form of divinity: ‘His description of nature in terms of the interplay of countless atoms in empty space ruled by the power of chance left no room for teleology and the deification of moving forces.’ Democritus rejected the afterlife, claiming everything was subject to decay. His views were linked to those of Epicurus (c.341-271 BCE), who argued that the gods had no influence on human life. The last philosophical movement to develop in Greece was the Sceptics. They argued that, as nothing can be known with complete certainty, we should neither deny nor affirm anything. Carneades, however, questioned Divine Providence, arguing that a caring god would not have created earthquakes and disease. In the Roman era, the majority of sceptics kept quiet. Cicero (106-43) was one of these, saying, however…. There are no miracles. What was incapable of happening never happened, and what was capable of happening is not a miracle. Ethical Record, February 2011 3 Lucretius (c. 94 – 55BCE) in his poem, De Rerum Natura, perceptively wrote: Both in earth and sky they see that many things happen whereof they cannot by any known law determine the causes. So their occurrence they ascribe to supernatural power… and afterwards we shall more rightly discern… out of what it is that everything can be created, how all came into being, without help of the gods. This, then, was the period in which we saw the beginnings of religious scepticism and beliefs in a naturalistic approach to understanding life, although only a few rejected belief in gods. Christianity Following this relatively enlightened period, the Christian religion became dominant, imposing a cruel regime with no freedom of expression. Up into the 17th century, belief in magic and astrology was often integrated with religion, with all being seen as branches of the supernatural. There was also a lack of understanding of the nature of disease. The church competed with ‘wise women’ who offered advice and potions in claiming cures. It would be wrong, however, to think that there was no development in the process that would eventually lead to rationalist thinking. Aristotle, for example, with his rejection of immortality, was translated and widely read in the 12th century. Amalric, Professor of Philosophy in Paris, argued, in 1206, that god worked through everything, there was no other life. This is interesting because there had been almost a thousandth years since expression of this sort of naturalistic view. In the 14 century, some thinkers began to adopt the naturalistic approach and saw belief in god as a matter of faith. Faith divorced from reason, philosophy from theology, naturally led to scepticism. The famous logician, William of Okkam (c. 1280 – 1349), rejected claims that it was possible to demonstrate god’s existence and the immortality of the soul. The rapid growth in printing in the middle ages aided scepticismth with the writings of such as Lucretius available from the middle of the 15 cent. The first well-known martyr was Michael Servetus, a scientist and writer. Publication of his book, The Errors of the Trinity, led to conviction for heresy and burning at the stake in Geneva in 1553. Many early dissenters were Italian. Commodo Canuove was denounced to the Venetian Inquisition in 1576 for having said We have never seen any dead man who has returned from the other side to tell us that paradise exists, or purgatory, or hell. All these things are the fantasies of priests. Alvise Capuano recanted his views to the Venetian Inquisition in order to save his life. The inquisition summed them up as You believed that the world was created by chance and, when the body dies, the soul dies also. You believed that Christ was the adopted son of the Madonna.