''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 The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a 501(c) organization, non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism. The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defe ...

(AHA). 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 In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

.) * Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary change. *

Ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. (See

ethical naturalism Ethical naturalism (also called moral naturalism or naturalistic cognitivistic definism) is the meta-ethical view that holds that moral properties and facts are reducible to natural properties and can be studied through empirical or scientific me ...

.) * 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.

Signatories

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

* 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 Lester Russel Brown (born March 28, 1934) is an American environmental analysis, environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and former president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit rese ...

(founder and president,

Earth Policy Institute Earth Policy Institute was an independent non-profit environmental organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was founded by Lester R. Brown in 2001 and functioned as an environmental think tank, providing research and anal ...

) *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 Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, 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 Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

*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 Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 – July 24, 2007) was an American psychologist and psychotherapist who founded rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University, and was cer ...

(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 Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was an English philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught ...

(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 Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), founded as the University of Islamabad, is a Public university, public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedicated to postgraduate educat ...

, 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 The Meadville Lombard Theological School is a Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago, Illinois. History Meadville Lombard is a result of a merger in the 1930s between two institutions, a American Unitarian Associatio ...

) *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 The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dange ...

) *Larry Reyka (president, the Humanist Society) *David Schafer (retired research physiologist, U.S. Veterans Administration) * Eugenie Scott (executive director,

National Center for Science Education The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a Nonprofit organization, not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of con ...

) *

Michael Shermer Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of '' Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientif ...

(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 William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

(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 Canandaigua () is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,576 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex in the adjacent town of Hopewell. ...

) *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 Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

(novelist) *John Weston (ministerial settlement director, Unitarian Universalist Association) * Edward O. Wilson (professor,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner) *

Sherwin Wine Sherwin Theodore Wine (Hebrew name שמעון בן צבי, Shimon ben Tzvi; January 25, 1928 – July 21, 2007) was an American rabbi and a founding figure of Humanistic Judaism, a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and Jewish history ...

(founder and president,

Society for Humanistic Judaism The Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ), founded by Rabbi Sherwin Wine in 1969, is an American 501(c)(3) organization and the central body of Humanistic Judaism, a philosophy that combines a Nontheism, non-theistic and Humanism, humanistic outloo ...

)

Nobel laureates

22 Nobel laureates were among the signatories: * Philip W. Anderson (Physics, 1977) *

Paul D. Boyer Paul Delos Boyer (July 31, 1918 – June 2, 2018) was an American biochemist, analytical chemist, and a professor of chemistry at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research on the " enz ...

(Chemistry, 1997) *

Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920 – February 28, 2006) was an American physicist who shared with Emilio Segrè the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton, a sub atomic particle, sub-atomic antiparticle. Biography Born i ...

(Physics, 1959) *

Francis Crick Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the Nucleic acid doub ...

(Medicine, 1962) * Paul J. Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995) * Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Physics, 1991) * Johann Deisenhofer (Chemistry, 1988) * Jerome I. Friedman (Physics, 1990) *

Sheldon Glashow Sheldon Lee Glashow (, ; born December 5, 1932) is a Nobel Prize-winning American theoretical physicist. He is the Metcalf Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Boston University, and a Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, emeritus, at Harv ...

(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 Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (19 March 19437 October 2020) was a Mexican physical chemist. He played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, and was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his rol ...

(Chemistry, 1995) * Erwin Neher (Medicine, 1991) *

Ilya Prigogine Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (; ; 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist of Russian-Jewish origin, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Prigogine's work most notably earned him the 19 ...

(Chemistry, 1977) * Richard J. Roberts (Medicine, 1993) * John E. Sulston (Medicine, 2002) * Henry Taube (Chemistry, 1983) *

E. Donnall Thomas Edward Donnall "Don" Thomas (March 15, 1920 – October 20, 2012)Frederick R. Appelbaum.Perspective: E. Donnall Thomas (1920–2012) Science 338(6111):1163, 30 November 2012 was an American physician, professor emeritus at the University o ...

(Medicine, 1990) * James Dewey Watson (Medicine, 1962)

Past AHA presidents

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

Vashti McCollum Vashti Cromwell McCollum (November 6, 1912 – August 20, 2006) was the plaintiff in the landmark 1948 Supreme Court case McCollum v. Board of Education, which struck down religious education in public schools. The defendant in the case was t ...

AHA board members

* 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

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

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Humanism and Its Aspirations''

''Humanism and Its Aspirations'' – Speech by Maddy Urken

Notable Signers

Critical commentary on the Humanist Manifesto III
Humanist manifestos Nontheism publications 2003 essays 2003 documents