Course: Introducing Humanism: Non-religious Approaches to Life, with Sandi Toksvig

‘Humanism does not have a supreme or unquestioning faith in science and reason, but it does not accept that the progress of humanity can be furthered without reason, reason grounded …

‘It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man’s insecurity before himself and before nature… the Greeks for the first …

‘When we hear it said that science has already failed to make us good, I always want to draw attention to the time-scale of things. There have been recognizable men …

‘We must constantly check the results of our reasoning process against the facts, and see if they fit. If they don’t fit, we must respect the facts, and conclude that …

This video provides a short introduction to the value humanists place on science as the best method we have for understanding the world.

It is worth addressing a humanist response to one other possible approach to the question of whether we can attain knowledge about the world. That is the response to relativism, …

We have learned that humanists are wary of claims made on the basis of faith alone. However, some critics accuse humanists of adopting a faith position of their own, a …

Stephen Law explains how it is better to think about our beliefs as appearing on a scale of reasonableness, rather than simply thinking of them as proved, unproved, or else …

We can see from what we learned in the last step how extraordinary and supernatural beliefs might arise and be held with great conviction. If any belief can be made …

Suppose Ted succumbs to a weird delusion. He believes dogs are spies from the planet Venus. Of course, his friends explain to him that he’s mistaken. They point to the …

‘Humanism is sceptical about claims to what is supposed to be true, including any claims that Humanism itself might want to put forward. But to live in the world with …

In this video the humanist philosopher AC Grayling emphasises the importance of basing our beliefs on rational foundations.

‘Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult. The pencil is conscious of a delightful facility in drawing a griffin – the longer the claws, and the larger the wings, the …

In this video the philosopher Stephen Law introduces what humanists might mean when they talk about scepticism.

Take a look at the video of different humanists answering the question, ‘How do you know what is true?’ Look out for similarities and differences between the humanist responses and …