Humpty Dumpty told Alice that words mean what you choose them to mean and that the only real question was who was to be the master? Redefine Humanism?

reposted from: http://crosscultural.meetup.com/18/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3309469&lastpage=yes#

Josh Kutchinsky

• Posted Aug 1, 2007 at 3:44 PM

JoshKutchinsky
London, GB

Humpty Dumpty told Alice that words mean what you choose them to mean and that the only real question was who was to be the master?

Well if Humanism is to be redefined so as to include people who believe that morality is derived from supernatural sources and who may also believe that there is an afterlife, and that there are ways of knowing about things other than through science, reason and the human imagination then I will need to find another label to more closely describe the mix of beliefs which help form my identity and personality.

Is it really helpful to muddy these waters? Modern Humanism (as compared to renaissance humanism or religious humanism) is increasingly being recognised, in government, legal and social circles, as the ethical lifestance of agnostics and atheists. I am sympathetic with the idea of meeting to work out responses to the problems that we all face together, whether we are religious or not. To what further extent there can be common ground in action if not in belief is something valuable to explore. People of all religions and beliefs engage with each other successfully all the time.