Customer Reviews

Embracing the Power of Humanism

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An outstanding book that advocates living a meaningful life ... WITHOUT religion. Professor Kurtz defends both individual autonomy and creative fulfillment (libertarian values) *and* altruism and empathy. EMBRACING THE POWER OF HUMANISM is both the best available book on normative humanist ethics and a powerful defense of naturalistic ethics.

While I may not always agree with everything or much of what Paul Kurtz may say , I do believe Embracing the Power of Humanism is a valuable tool in showing those who profess to have "spiritual/religious beliefs" that those who do Not, i.e. Mr Kurtz, can be equally as humane and thoughtful. Compassionate and wise. That it is the actions that speak louder than words.

It saddens me that those I know, who are non-religious, atheists, agnostics etc are so often thought of or looked upon as being "lesser than".

As much as I tend to disagree with Paul Kurtz on more abstract philosophical issues, I found myself unable to tear away from EMBRACING THE POWER OF HUMANISM, which compiles some of the most inspiring parts of his other books. Kurtz successfully conveys the sheer wonder, power, and exuberance of the humanistic outlook. Although I do not feel I learned anything especially new, I came away feeling unusually energized - a feeling which still persists, long after the book is back on the shelf.

Paul Kurtz's writings about Secular Humanism represent just about the best that man's intellect could propose regarding the good life in the context of the 20th Century. Guess what? The context for what's thinkable and doable is rapidly changing in the 21st Century.

Secular Humanism's main weakness -- its fatalism about human mortality -- seems hopelessly feckless in light of what advanced thinkers are foreseeing as the radical rejuvenation and life extension offered by medicine circa 2030 and beyond. Anyone who doubts this apparently hasn't been paying much attention to the science news lately, or else hasn't been thinking about its deeper implications. Neo-Luddites take this scenario seriously, hence their efforts to stop or "relinquish" progress in biotech, nanotech and artificial intelligence.

Because of this failure of nerve and imagination, Kurtz cannot effectively counter Nihilism, a pessimistic, heretical interpretation of Secular Humanist premises. The prospect of conquering aging and death through human efforts offers the best hope of defeating Nihilism (not to mention supernaturalistic belief systems) and making a modified Secular Humanism, with the proffered name of Transhumanism, the working creed of a civilized and livable world.

Kurtz has collected in this one volume a kind of time capsule of what Secular Humanism had to offer in biomedically primitive times. Though I don't understand what he was trying to show by recounting his friend's deathbed conversion to Catholicism, for that just reinforces religious stereotypes about Atheism/Humanism being an unsustainable way to live. If you want to know what will replace Secular Humanism, look up the significant body of Transhumanist philosophy on the Web.