Humanist Thought of the Week

Moral Character

Your moral character is dependent on your morals. Spend some time thinking about them. 

The old saying goes “you can tell a person’s character by how they act when they think no one is looking.”

Having character is all about not just having morals, but living by your morals.

To do that, you have to have morals.

How do you get morals?

By thinking about what it is you value and why.

Take the time to think about what sort of person you want to be and then set about being that person.

Take the time to think through your actions before you act to make sure your actions are consistent with your professed morals.

Not because you want people to think well of you, but because YOU want to think well of you.

Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow, the Humanistic Psychologist, proposed that we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. 

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The 3 C’s of Humanism

The idea behind this is not to provide a perfect definition of Humanism, but rather to help Humanists consider a different aspect of the philosophy in a new way.

Humanism is a deceptively simple philosophies.

Yet, it is really hard to describe well because once you start getting into the details, there is all the nuance and balance that is required to do it well.

Regardless, here is yet another attempt by me to describe and define Humanism in a simple way that is nothing but simple.

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Who we are

Finding balance between now and the future. Who we are vs. who we should be.

The central problem of ethics and morality is that we are constantly confronted with a world that isn’t as it should be. This is a real problem. We have to face reality while striving to do and to be better, despite all the forces against us. To motivate ourselves we have to balance our vision of the future with the reality of the present. We have to accept who we are right now while always striving to become who we know we should be. Finding this balance is hard. But it is one of the main reasons why I like being a Humanist. Humanism encourages me to be realistic, yet idealistic at the same time. It helps me to get that balance right. What do you do when you find yourself engaging in too much wishful thinking. Or when you find yourself disheartened by the state of humanity? How do you keep your optimism while remaining grounded?

Why teaching critical thinking fails

Why freethinkers need to focus on moral fortitude if we are to actually encourage people to think more critically.

I read a great essay by Edward Clint a while back (link at the end of this post). It was about why teaching critical thinking fails.

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