Understanding Humanism

Understanding Humanism is an easy-to-read and informative overview of the beliefs, practices, and values of humanism as a non-religious worldview. This short and lively book explores humanism both as a broad historical tradition of thought and as a stance embodied in organised institutions. It sets out clearly and systematically the beliefs and values of humanism as well as the reality and personal experience of living as a humanist today.

Questions discussed in this book include:

• How do humanists see the relation between science and religious belief?
• Is humanism wedded to science as the only valid form of knowledge?
• What value do humanists place on the arts, and can they value religious art?
• Does the emphasis on human responsibility depend on an untenable belief in ''free will'', and is this undermined by psychology and neuroscience?
• Do humanists think that life is sacred?
• What account would humanists give of t