Humanism and Its Aspirations

2003 publication by the American Humanist Association

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Humanism and Its Aspirations (subtitled Humanist Manifesto III, a successor to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933) is the most recent of the Humanist Manifestos, published in 2003 by the American Humanist Association (AHA).[1] The newest one is much shorter, listing six primary beliefs, which echo themes from its predecessors:

* Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. (See empiricism.)
* Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change.
* Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. (See ethical naturalism.)
* Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals.
* Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships.
* Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness.

It has been used as source material for secular and atheist ethics.[2]

## Signatories

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Academics and other prominent persons were signatories to the document, attesting "We who sign Humanism and Its Aspirations declare ourselves in general agreement with its substance":

### Notable signatories

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* Philip Appleman (poet and distinguished professor emeritus of English, Indiana University)
* Khoren Arisian (senior leader, New York Society for Ethical Culture)
* Bill Baird (reproductive rights pioneer)
* Frank Berger (pharmacologist, developer of anti-anxiety drugs)
* Howard Box (minister emeritus, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, Tennessee)
* Lester R. Brown (founder and president, Earth Policy Institute)
* August E. Brunsman IV (executive director, Secular Student Alliance)
* Rob Buitenweg (vice president, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
* Vern Bullough (sexologist and former co-president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union)
* David Bumbaugh (professor, Meadville Lombard Theological School)
* Matthew Cherry (executive director, Institute for Humanist Studies)
* Joseph Chuman (visiting professor of religion, Columbia University, and leader, Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, New Jersey)
* Curt Collier (leader, Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, New York)
* Fred Cook (retired executive committee member, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
* Carl Coon (former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal)
* Richard Dawkins
* Charles Debrovner (president, NACH/The Humanist Institute)
* Arthur Dobrin (professor of humanities, Hofstra University and leader emeritus Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, New York)
* Margaret Downey (president, Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia)
* Sonja Eggerickx (vice president, Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen, Belgium, and vice president International Humanist and Ethical Union)
* Riane Eisler (president, Center for Partnership Studies)
* Albert Ellis (creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and founder of the Albert Ellis Institute)
* Edward L. Ericson (leader emeritus, Ethical Culture)
* Roy P. Fairfield (co-founder, Union Graduate School)
* Antony Flew (philosopher)
* Levi Fragell (president, International Humanist and Ethical Union)
* Jerome Isaac Friedman (Nobel Laureate, Physics)
* Arun Gandhi (co-founder, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence)
* Kendyl Gibbons (president, Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association)
* Sol Gordon (sexologist)
* Ethelbert Haskins (retired treasurer of the Humanist Foundation)
* Jim Herrick (editor, the New Humanist)
* Pervez Hoodbhoy (professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan)
* Fran P. Hosken (editor, Women's International Network News)
* Joan Johnson Lewis (president, National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union)
* Stefan Jonasson (immediate past president, HUUmanists)
* Larry Jones (president, Institute for Humanist Studies)
* Edwin Kagin (founder and director, Camp Quest)
* Beth Lamont (AHA NGO representative to the United Nations)
* Gerald A. Larue (professor emeritus of Biblical history and archaeology, University of Southern California)
* Joseph Levee (board member, Council for Secular Humanism)
* Ellen McBride (immediate past president, American Ethical Union)
* Lester Mondale (retired Unitarian Universalist minister and signer of Humanist Manifestos I and II)
* Henry Morgentaler (abortion rights pioneer)
* Stephen Mumford (president, Center for Research on Population and Security)
* William Murry (president and dean, Meadville Lombard Theological School)
* Sarah Oelberg (president, HUUmanists)
* Indumati Parikh (president, Center for the Study of Social Change, India)
* Philip Paulson (Church-state activist)
* Katha Pollitt (columnist, the Nation)
* Howard Radest (dean emeritus, the Humanist Institute)
* James "Amazing" Randi (magician, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation)
* Larry Reyka (president, the Humanist Society)
* David Schafer (retired research physiologist, U.S. Veterans Administration)
* Eugenie Scott (executive director, National Center for Science Education)
* Michael Shermer (editor of Skeptic magazine)
* James R. Simpson (professor of international agricultural economics, Ryukoku University, Japan)
* Warren Allen Smith (editor and author)
* Matthew les Spetter (associate professor in social psychology at the Peace Studies Institute of Manhattan College, NY)
* Oliver Stone (Academy Award-winning filmmaker)
* John Swomley (professor emeritus of social ethics, St. Paul School of Theology)
* Robert Tapp (dean, the Humanist Institute)
* Carl Thitchener (co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New York)
* Maureen Thitchener (co-minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst and of Canandaigua, New York)
* Rodrigue Tremblay (Emeritus professor of economics and of international finance, Universite de Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
* Kurt Vonnegut (novelist)
* John Weston (ministerial settlement director, Unitarian Universalist Association)
* Edward O. Wilson (professor, Harvard University, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner)
* Sherwin Wine (founder and president, Society for Humanistic Judaism)

### Nobel laureates

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22 Nobel laureates were among the signatories:

* Philip W. Anderson (Physics, 1977)
* Paul D. Boyer (Chemistry, 1997)
* Owen Chamberlain (Physics, 1959)
* Francis Crick (Medicine, 1962)
* Paul J. Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995)
* Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Physics, 1991)
* Johann Deisenhofer (Chemistry, 1988)
* Jerome I. Friedman (Physics, 1990)
* Sheldon Glashow (Physics, 1979)
* David J. Gross (Physics, 2004)
* Herbert A. Hauptman (Chemistry, 1985)
* Dudley Herschbach (Chemistry, 1986)
* Harold W. Kroto (Chemistry, 1996)
* Yuan T. Lee (Chemistry, 1986)
* Mario J. Molina (Chemistry, 1995)
* Erwin Neher (Medicine, 1991)
* Ilya Prigogine (Chemistry, 1977)
* Richard J. Roberts (Medicine, 1993)
* John E. Sulston (Medicine, 2002)
* Henry Taube (Chemistry, 1983)
* E. Donnall Thomas (Medicine, 1990)
* James Dewey Watson (Medicine, 1962)

### Past AHA presidents

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* Edd Doerr
* Michael W. Werner
* Suzanne I. Paul
* Lyle L. Simpson
* Bette Chambers
* Lloyd L. Morain
* Robert W. McCoy
* Vashti McCollum

### AHA board members

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* Melvin Lipman (president)
* Lois Lyons (vice president)
* Ronald W. Fegley (secretary)
* John Nugent (treasurer)
* Wanda Alexander
* John R. Cole
* Tom Ferrick
* Robert D. Finch
* John M. Higgins
* Herb Silverman
* Maddy Urken
* Mike Werner

### Drafting committee

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* Fred Edwords (chair)
* Edd Doerr (also included above as a past AHA president)
* Tony Hileman
* Pat Duffy Hutcheon
* Maddy Urken

## See also

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* Amsterdam Declaration 2002, a similar document from the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

## References

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1. ^ "Humanism and its Aspirations". American Humanist Association, 2003. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
2. ^ "St. Paul's atheists are coming out of the closet". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved 2019-08-23.

## External links

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* Humanism and Its Aspirations
* Humanism and Its Aspirations – Speech by Maddy Urken
* Notable Signers
* Critical commentary on the Humanist Manifesto III