Humanism

Humanism is a post-Christian worldview that inherits a lot from Christianity. But it is not just Christianity without God. It is a new worldview/religion that has emerged in recent history, partly due to advances in our understanding of reality, and partly due to modern forms of communication, such as television.

Humanism is the de facto religion of the modern West — or at least, of its intellectual elites. Humanist assumptions permeate education and entertainment. They appear on bumper stickers and T-shirts. They frame public discourse. It is risky to question them in public. You can get banned from social media, fired from your job, and even physically attacked for heresies against humanism. But most people are not even aware of humanism as a belief system.

The core assumptions of humanism are normally taken for granted, not stated explicitly. They underlie and frame discourse and thought. However, we can extrapolate background assumptions from what is explicitly stated.

As I see it, these are the core assumptions of humanism:

1. Thought applied to experience is a reliable source of truth for individuals. People are generally rational and capable of arriving at correct beliefs about the world, given enough experience and thought.
2. Science is a reliable source of truth for society. More generally, we can collectively arrive at truth by rational discussion and debate combined with experimentation.
3. Feelings of pain and pleasure are the basic source of value for individuals. Pleasure is good and pain is bad, personally and subjectively.
4. We ought to be altruistic to others. This is the one and only moral principle. Human beings are generally altruistic by nature. Altruism is the basis of society.
5. All human beings are equally worthy of care and concern. (Humanity is the moral in-group.) War and conflict between subdivisions of humanity is bad.

The first two deal with truth. The second two deal with value. In each case, there is a premise that deals with the individual and one that deals with the collective. Questions of truth and value are important for individuals and also for collectives. In both cases, the principle that applies to collectives depends on the principle that applies to individuals. Science depends on individual rationality, and altruism depends on some notion of individual value. The fifth assumption is necessary to define the in-group: the circle of moral concern.

You might think that I am giving humanism too much credit for being a coherent and organized system. It is true that most humanists could not define their own beliefs simply and clearly. However, I think I have correctly presented the underlying structure of humanism. Its neatness is not the result of the intellectual efforts of humanists. It is a reflection of human psychology. A worldview has to give people a basis for making truth and value judgments, as individuals and as collectives.

There is an additional assumption that is very important, but that most humanists would be uncomfortable facing directly, and would certainly deny if it were explicitly stated. For that reason, it is usually conveyed by propaganda slogans and imagery. That assumption is:

6. Humans are magic.

Humanists never state premise 6 explicitly. Instead, they talk about “faith in human nature” or “faith in progress”, and they label anyone with a less magical view of human beings as a “pessimist” or “hater”.

Humanists do not believe that humans are literally magic, but they do worship human nature and humanity as ideals, and those ideals transcend nature and approach divinity.

✦ ✦ ✦

Humanism transfers divinity from God to humanity.

Humanism did not arise out of a cultural vacuum, or out of pure rationality. Humanism emerged from a Christian worldview in the modern era, and it inherited a lot of the substructure of Christianity.

During the Enlightenment, philosophers tried to construct a new worldview with little or no role for God or religion. Humanism is an attempt to construct a foundation for human life without religion. However, the philosophers didn’t dig up religion by its roots. They merely grafted a new head onto a Christian body. Incapable of imagining existence without divinity, they transferred the divine aspects of God to human nature and (to a lesser extent) to nature in general.

The omniscience (knowledge) of God is transferred to humanity as faith in reason. Humanists view the human intellect as an almost unlimited source of truth. They trust science to provide us with knowledge of reality.

The omnipotence (power) of God is transferred to humanity as faith in progress. Humanists believe in both moral progress and technological progress as inevitable processes. They portray ideological opponents as “backward”, “living in the past”, etc. They view progress as taking us toward an almost godlike state.

The foundation of value in divine will is transferred to human will. Humans have intrinsic value, and human desires are the foundation of value. Our subjective experiences of pleasure and pain are intrinsically and objectively valuable. This replaces divine will as the ultimate basis of value in the universe.

The benevolence (goodness) of God is transferred to humanity as empathy and compassion, which are presumed to make us altruistic. Humans are good by nature, not because of earthly or divine rewards and punishments.

In humanism, humanity is divine. Human nature is the ultimate source of meaning, truth and value. Human beings are naturally good, and progress is a natural consequence of human nature.

The universality and egalitarianism of Christianity becomes the universality and egalitarianism of humanism. “We are all God’s children” becomes “We are all Human”.

Heaven is replaced with happiness in this life, which is attained via “self-actualization”. Some humanists believe that even death will be transcended by technology (transhumanism). Heaven has also been replaced by a utopian vision of an earthly paradise: a “world without hate”. The song Imagine conveys the humanist vision of paradise.

God has been replaced by humanity as the source of meaning, truth and value. Human nature is a sacred essence. The human individual is intrinsically valuable. The human collective is the in-group. There are variations on the humanist theme that are more individualistic or more collectivistic, but they all idolize humanity and human nature.

The “original sin” of humanism is the failure of humanity to live up to humanism’s ideal conception of it. It is the divergence of reality from the ideal. However, humanism does not view this sin as intrinsic to human nature, but as something imposed on humanity, and something that we can overcome.

✦ ✦ ✦

Humanism is a crypto-religion. It functions as a religion, but it does not have the legal status of a religion, and it is not usually viewed as a religion. Humanists view humanism as simply being “rational” and “good”. The truth is quite different. Humanism is a dogmatic belief system that is propagated by indoctrination and protected by censorship.

Being a crypto-religion has certain advantages. Humanist mantras and symbols are used in propaganda and advertising in ways that would be unacceptable for the mantras and symbols of other religions. Because it is not an official religion, the state can play an active role in propagating humanism. The division between church and state does not apply to humanism. This has advantages for both the religion and the state. Religion is a very powerful way to influence people. The state uses humanism to justify its existence and actions, and in return humanism is propagated by the state.

That’s why Western governments use rainbow flags and humanist mantras in their propaganda, rather than Christian symbols and sayings. Politicians still invoke God occasionally, and most claim to be Christian, but that is a minor concession to the old religion of the West. Political rhetoric is almost always framed within the humanist worldview.

Corporations also take advantage of humanism’s status as a crypto-religion. They shamelessly invoke the humanist ethos to sell products. Advertising is full of humanist mantras and symbols. Again, both sides benefit. Corporations use humanism to influence people, and humanism is propagated by corporations.

Humanism presents itself as a deep foundation of truth and value, of which other religions are imperfect manifestations. Humanism avoids direct confrontations with other religions, which would expose it as a religion itself. Instead, it engages in more limited conflicts over specific issues, such as the fight over gay marriage. This strategy has been successful. Humanism slowly captured more and more cultural territory, while Christianity retreated. In the West, humanism has effectively captured marriage from Christianity. Marriage is now a humanist celebration of hedonistic love between two people.

Humanists view other religions as primitive, inferior versions of humanism. They believe that they are more enlightened, and that other religions will eventually fade away. They believe that “all religions are different paths to the same place”, and that humanism is the final destination.

That is why humanists are blind to the dangers of Islam. They assume that Muslims are really humanists on the inside, with some superstitious baggage. So, they believe that Muslims will convert to humanism if they are welcomed into Western societies and given plenty of free stuff. That is why they want to distinguish Islamic terrorism and extremism from Islam itself. The reality of Islam falsifies not only their view of other religions, but also their view of human nature.

The humanists are wrong about Islam, of course. Humanism is no match for an aggressive religion that promotes reproduction and war. Christianity cannot compete with humanism, because it does not have moral or doctrinal clarity. Humanism has far greater moral clarity than Christianity, because it is essentially a rationalization and simplification of Christianity. But Islam also has moral and doctrinal clarity.

As the parent religion and main competitor of humanism, Christianity is treated differently from other religions. Christians are often criticized for not living up to what humanists view as the core message of Christianity: brotherly love. On the other hand, Christianity is tolerated by humanists as long as it conforms to their values. To the extent that Christianity accepts the status of a subordinate sect of humanism, it is tolerated and even promoted. Humanism has managed to take over a large percentage of Christian churches. Increasingly, Christian churches preach a humanist interpretation of Christianity, not traditional Christianity. (Christianity was never well-defined.)

✦ ✦ ✦

The moral paradigm of the modern West is humanist. Increasingly, all moral arguments are framed in terms of the sole moral value of humanism: altruism. This usually takes the form of the mantra “Love, not hate”. Humanism portrays hate as unnatural and pathological, and love as natural and good. The terms “love” and “hate” are now virtually synonymous with “good” and “evil”.

This moral premise goes along with an idealistic (and highly unrealistic) conception of human nature: that human beings are essentially good/loving, not evil/hateful, and thus all problems are caused by something external to human nature.

War must be caused by irrational bigotry and superstitions, not by a natural conflict of interests. Crime must be due to poverty, not natural aggression and competition. The solution to these problems is always “love”. War must be solved by overcoming primitive superstitions and bigotry. Crime must be solved by alleviating poverty and inequality.

Humanists often pathologize hate/evil, treating it as a mental illness (“sociopathy”). They still shame people for displaying “evil” beliefs, however: for choosing “hate” over “love”. Shaming others for being “evil” presumes that evil is a choice, not a pathology. This inconsistency does not bother humanists, however. The inconsistencies of religions rarely bother their believers.

The humanist conception of human nature has some very serious implications. It justifies feeding the poor, huddled masses of the world, while allowing them to breed at will. Humanists believe that population growth will solve itself due to the magic of human nature. This belief is labeled “demographic transition theory” to make it sound scientific. Based on a naive extrapolation of recent trends, it predicts that human beings will adopt replacement-level fertility without coercion, if they are wealthy enough. Thus, instead of promoting population control, humanists focus on alleviating poverty. This approach might work for a while, but it will fail in the long run.

See Fertility and Destiny.

Biological realism clashes with humanist assumptions about human nature. Human nature is selfish and violent, not altruistic and peaceful. Our biggest problems arise from our own nature, and from nature in general, not from bad ideas or historical accidents. Crime is caused by individuals pursuing their own interests. It has to prevented by coercive punishment, not charity or education. War is ultimately caused by the competitive nature of life itself. Populations naturally grow until people are starving, and then they fight over resources. To solve our biggest problems, we must regulate human nature, not liberate it.

Humanists reject biological realism, labeling it “social Darwinism” or simply “evil”.

Leftism is a natural extension of humanism. Every so-called “rights” movement of recent history, whether feminism, racial justice or gay rights, was implicitly based on the humanist worldview. “Love, not hate”, “We’re all Human”, and “Diversity is our strength” are humanist mantras. They appeal to the underlying assumption that altruism is the solution to all social problems. Supposedly, if we erase artificial divisions imposed on us by history or superstition, we can love one another and live in peace and harmony. Humanism is not explicitly leftist, but leftism is a natural development of humanism because leftism is just humanism plus a special victimhood narrative that carves out some segment of humanity as oppressed and some other segment as oppressive (insufficiently altruistic).

Leftism situates the original sin of humanity in an oppressive construct, such as “whiteness” or “patriarchy”, and in a few evil people who must be overthrown to erase this sin and bring about paradise on Earth. Leftism explains why the world is not a humanist utopia, and it promises to deliver that utopia. It also gives humanists an out-group to hate: the oppressors who stand in the way of the humanist utopia. Paradoxically, leftists hate in the name of love. Humanism provides the moral paradigm, and leftism provides the moral narratives that motivate left-wing politics and virtue-signaling. Leftism gives leftists a claim to moral superiority and an excuse for hatred.

The right has been unable to stop the rising tide of leftism and humanism in the West. That is partly because the right has a worldview that is just as delusional, and less fashionable. Traditional religion and morality cannot compete with humanism in the modern environment. Also, many on the right tacitly accept the humanist worldview.

The classical liberals (once on the left, now on the right) appeal to an alternative version of humanism that places more importance on freedom and individuality. They also appeal to pragmatism, which is somewhat more persuasive, but moralism typically trumps pragmatism in politics.

Pragmatic arguments against leftist policies usually end up conflicting with humanism, because they are based on truths that conflict with the humanist view of human nature. For example, the pragmatic argument for capitalism is that human beings are naturally selfish, and the market works because it creates cooperation between selfish individuals. That is true, but it conflicts with the humanist belief that humans are altruistic and society is based on altruism. It is difficult to justify capitalism within the humanist worldview. It is easy to justify communism.

The rise of the new right is a direct confrontation with humanism. The new right directly rejects the humanist ethos and mythos. Humanists have reacted to this new opposition with bafflement and inchoate fury. They can accept that people from non-Christian, non-Western societies are not yet humanist, but they can’t accept the rejection of their worldview by people of the modern West, who were raised within it and should “know better”. Like most religions, humanism is extremely intolerant of apostasy. Apostates are viewed as simply evil.

✦ ✦ ✦

Humanist delusions apply to sexuality as well as society. The ideal of romantic love is a humanist delusion. It ignores the selfish and competitive nature of sexuality. Humanism assumes that our sexual emotions are essentially good, so sexual freedom should create a sexual utopia, not a dystopia.

The truth is that our sexual emotions (like our social emotions) evolved to generate selfish, adaptive behavior. Sexuality is a field of both cooperation and competition. Problems of cooperation, analogous to prisoner’s dilemmas and tragedies of the commons, arise naturally out of human sexuality. Sexual cooperation is not guaranteed to arise out of sexual freedom. Conversely, social constraints on sexual freedom can help to create sexual cooperation.

The result of the sexual revolution has not been a sexual utopia. Instead, it has created a dystopia. Ironically, humanism has made actual love harder to create.

See The Sexual Revolution, The Sexual Contract and Modern Romance.

Humanism requires the aggressive denial of reality. The divergence of humanism from reality is harder to ignore than the divergence of Christianity from reality, because most of the Christian delusions are conveniently placed beyond the reach of falsification: in the distant past, in the heavens, or in the afterlife. Humanist delusions, by contrast, are placed here on Earth and are easy to falsify with evidence. The Christian has a simple explanation for the failure of humanity to live up to an ideal of goodness: humanity is imperfect, fallen, Eve ate an apple, etc. The humanist has no such explanation for the “inhumanity” of humanity. This is a big problem for humanism.

Humanist virtue-signaling is driven by the impossibility of living up to the altruistic ideal of human nature. Humanists make up for their natural selfishness by furiously signaling their altruism. Confronting their true natures would be horrific for most humanists. They are protected from reality by a curtain of self-deception that they collaborate to maintain. The fury against “haters” is partly driven by the need to virtue-signal, partly by the natural desire to hate, but also by the fact that “haters” threaten to pull aside that curtain and expose reality.

The stubborn refusal of human nature to conform to an ideal can become a justification for totalitarian social control and even state terror. There will always be some form of “greed” or “hate” that must be eliminated with redistribution or “education”. Revolutions inspired by humanist ideals often culminate in state terror and mass killing. The French revolution of 1789, the Russian revolution of 1917, and the Chinese cultural revolution of 1966 are conspicuous examples. We have not reached those extremes in the West yet, but there is a mass program of indoctrination and censorship to make people “love, not hate”.

✦ ✦ ✦

How did humanism become the religion of the modern West?

To put it simply, modernity created humanism. Scientific advances made traditional knowledge obsolete. The industrial and sexual revolutions changed the conditions of human existence, replacing traditional ways of life. New forms of communication allowed new ideas to propagate. The traditional Christian worldview broke down, and humanism arose in its place.

Before the printing press, the Christian Church had a near monopoly on literacy in the West. Few people could read or write, so the Church had almost complete control over the propagation of abstract ideas. The invention of the printing press led to an explosion of communication. This triggered the Protestant Reformation, which was a refocusing of Christianity around the text of the Bible, rather than the institution of the Church.

The printing press also helped to create the separation of knowledge into different spheres governed by different institutions, with the Church playing an increasingly minor role in the propagation of information. The printing press created the news media, the novel as a popular form of art and entertainment, modern science and modern education. New ideas propagated through the printed word, outside the control of the Church. Science produced a new understanding of the world that directly challenged the Christian worldview. Radical political ideas, such as Marxism, offered people a vision of an earthly salvation and purpose. The Christian worldview began to disintegrate because it could not deal with this explosion of new ideas.

The industrial revolution lifted the masses out of poverty, and created a new way of life. Modern medicine and hygiene reduced child mortality. People moved into cities. Most children went to school. Then the sexual revolution changed sexual behavior. The birth control pill allowed young people to have sex without children. New communication technologies, such as photography, radio and television, allowed fashions to spread rapidly. A new way of life emerged, with a new worldview.

But humanism was not entirely new. It inherited a lot from the Christian worldview, especially subconscious assumptions. And it did not fully accept the knowledge generated by science. It sacralized human nature, and thus placed it off-limits to thought. Biology, psychology and social theory are all constrained, in the modern “church” (the academy) by humanist dogmas. If you utter a heresy against sacred human nature, you will be excommunicated.

Culture is highly determined by communication media. The culture of the late 20th century was shaped by television, which was the primary medium of culture. Today, the internet has become the primary medium of communication, and that is causing a cultural upheaval. The internet is having an effect similar to that of the printing press. It brings issues and ideas into awareness that were formerly hidden. It breaks down the established worldview.

For now, however, humanism is still the religion of the modern West.