Humanism and Its Aspirations

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

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 (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

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

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

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

See also

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