Secular Humanism—Ideology, Philosophy, Politics, History
Bibliography in Progress

Compiled by Ralph Dumain


History & Sociology

Campbell, Colin. Toward a Sociology of Irreligion. New York: Herder and Herder, 1972.

Dacey, Austin. The Skeptical Canon, CSI blog, July 26, 2011.

Derkx, Peter. Modern Humanism in the Netherlands (2002 or later).

Hale, J. Russell. The Unchurched: Who They Are and Why They Stay That Way. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980.

Humanism, Meanings of Life, Worldviews, University for Humanistics (Universiteit voor Humanistiek), Utrecht, Netherlands, 25 Januar,2006.

The meaning of the word "humanism", 15 September 2003.

Hunter, James Davison. "‘America's Fourth Faith’: A Sociological Perspective on Secular Humanism," This World, no. 19, Fall 1987, pp. 101-110.

Meyer, Donald H. "Secular Transcendence: The American Religious Humanists," American Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 5, Winter, 1982, pp. 524-542.

Pasquale, Frank L. "Unbelief and Irreligion, Empirical Study and Neglect of," in The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Tom Flynn, ed. (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007), pp. 760-766.

Tribe, David H. 100 Years of Freethought. London: Elek, 1967. Note chapter on philosophy (Humanism) & bibliography.

Weldon, Stephen. "In Defense of Science: Secular Intellectuals and the Failure of Nerve Thesis," Religious Humanism, vol. 30, nos. 1 & 2, winter/spring 1996, p. 30-39. (See also my blog entry, Failure of Nerve.)

Weldon, Stephen P. The Scientific Spirit of American Humanism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. Flynn, Tom. "Unruly Multitudes" (Review), Free Inquiry, Volume 41, No. 4, June/July 2021.

Flynn, Tom. "Unruly Multitudes" (Review), Free Inquiry, Volume 41, No. 4, June/July 2021.

Weldon, Stephen P. "Secular Humanism: A Survey of Its Origins and Development," Religious Humanism, vol. 33, no. 3-4, Summer-Fall 1999, pp. 42-61.

Wilson, Edwin H. The Genesis of a Humanist Manifesto, edited by Teresa Maciocha. Amherst, NY: Humanist Press, 1995. Also available as online text.


Politics

Re-booting Humanism by Barry F. Seidman, & see esp. part 2.

Epstein, Greg M. (Humanist Chaplain at Harvard). My Speech at the Dinner with John Edwards (blog entry, June 11, 2007, The Heart of Humanism).

Smith, Gregory B. "Secular Humanism and Politics" [letter to editor], Free Inquiry, vol. 27, no. 4, June/July 2007, p. 13, 66. Complaint about the alleged liberal bias of the magazine.

Kurtz, Paul. "The Principles of Fairness: Progressive Taxation" (Editorial), Free Inquiry, Volume 26, Number 6, October / November 2006, pp. 4ff.

Speckhardt, Roy. "Can a Humanist Be a Political Conservative?", The Humanist, March /April 2004, pp. 30-31. On several other web sites including The Free Library.

"Humanists Not Necessarily Liberal" by John Cress, Tom Brucia, Abigail Ann Martin; The Humanist, May-June, 2004 .

Wisdom Project » Society and Politics Think Tank » Can a Humanist be a Political Conservative?

Progressives and Naturalists: Who Counts as a Humanist? (revised 8/07)


Hudgins, Edward. "Building Bridges to the Right: Libertarians, Conservatives, and Humanists," Free Inquiry, 9: 9-12, 1989.

Gordon, David. "Libertarianism Versus Secular Humanism?", Free Inquiry, 9: 22-23, 1989.

Schmitt, Richard. "Humanism and Socialism," Free Inquiry, 9: 16-19, 1989.

Nielsen, Kai. "Making a Case for Socialism," Free Inquiry, 9: 12-14, 1989.

Briskman, Larry. "Can a Secular Humanist Be a Classical Liberal?", Free Inquiry, 2: 27-29, 1982.


Crocker, David A. Praxis and Democratic Socialism: The Critical Social Theory of Marković and Stojanović. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press; Brighton, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1983.

Fowkes, Maja & Reuben. “Remains of Utopia: Neo-Marxist Affinities of the East European Neo-avant-garde,” Acta Historiae Artium, vol. 56, no. 1, 2015, pp. 333-342.

Fromm, Erich, ed. Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965.

Hansen, Joseph. "Corliss Lamont on Humanism," International Socialist Review, Vol. 19, No. 4, Fall 1958, pp. 153-155.

"Humanism," in A Dictionary of Scientific Communism (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1984), pp. 108-110.

Humanist Ethics: Dialogue on Basics, edited by Morris B. Storer. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1980. Book available online for Questia subscribers.

See esp. “Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”: Comments by Kai Nielsen & Mihailo Marković, & Responses by Paul Kurtz.
    Comment by Kai Nielsen on Kurtz Article [“Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”], pp. 27-28.
    Reply by Paul Kurtz to Nielsen, pp. 29-30.
    Comment by Mihailo Marković on Kurtz [“Does Humanism Have an Ethic of Responsibility?”], pp. 31-33.
    Reply by Paul Kurtz to Marković, pp. 33-35.
Historical Praxis as the Ground of Morality” by Mihailo Marković , pp. 36-50.
    Comment by Paul Kurtz on Marković Article, pp. 51-54.
    Reply by Marković, pp. 54-57.

Kosík, Karel. "Man and Philosophy," in Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium, ed. by Erich Fromm (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), pp. 162-171.

Marcuse, Herbert. “The Realm of Freedom and the Realm of Necessity: A Reconsideration,” Praxis, 5, no. 1 (1969), pp. 20-25.

Marcuse, Herbert. "Socialist Humanism?" in Socialist Humanism: An International Symposium, ed. by Erich Fromm (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), pp. 107-117.

Marxist Humanism and Praxis, edited, with translations, by Gerson S. Sher. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1978. iv, 183 pp.

Novack, George. Humanism & Socialism. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1973.

Novack, George (William F. Warde, pseud.). "Socialism and Humanism," International Socialist Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 1959, pp. 13-16, & Vol. 20, No. 2, Spring 1959, pp. 53-59. (See also my blog entry Socialism & Humanism: Novack & Mattick.)

Mattick, Paul. "Humanism and Socialism" (1965), in Anti-Bolshevik Communism (London: Merlin Press, 1978). (See also my blog entry Socialism & Humanism: Novack & Mattick.)

Petrosyan, M. Humanism: Its Philosophical, Ethical and Sociological Aspects, translated by Bryan Bean. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972.

Praxis: Yugoslav Essays in the Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences, translated by Joan Coddington, David Rougé, [et al.]; edited by Mihailo Marković and Gajo Petrović. Dordrecht, Holland; Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1979. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science; v. 36, Synthese Library; v. 134) Selections from the Praxis Jugoslavensko izdanje 1965-1974 by the Praxis group.

Roberts, Edwin A. "Marxism and Secular Humanism: An Excavation and Reappraisal," Nature, Society, and Thought, vol. 12, no. 2, 1999, pp. 177-201.

Satterwhite, James H. Varieties of Marxist Humanism: Philosophical Revision in Postwar Eastern Europe. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. (Series in Russian and East European Studies; no. 17)

Sher, Gerson S. Praxis: Marxist Criticism and Dissent in Socialist Yugoslavia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977.

Starr, Mark. "Organized Labor and the Dewey Philosophy," in: John Dewey, Philosopher of Science and Freedom: A Symposium, edited by Sidney Hook (New York: Dial Press, 1950), pp. 184-193.

Sviták, Ivan. The Dialectic of Common Sense: The Master Thinkers. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1979. On Montaigne, Voltaire, Holbach.

Sviták, Ivan. Baron d’Holbach, Philosopher of Common Sense, translated by Jarmila Veltrusky. Chico: California State University, 1976. 76 pp. (Translated from Filosof zdravého rozumu, Holbach.)

Sviták, Ivan. “The Sources of Socialist Humanism” (1963), in Man and his World: A Marxian View; translated by Jarmila Veltrusky (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1970), pp. 154-166.

Tolerance and Revolution: A Marxist-non-Marxist Humanist Dialogue, edited by Paul Kurtz and Svetozar Stojanović. Beograd: Philosophical Society of Serbia, 1970. See esp.:

Revolutionary Teleology and Ethics” by Svetozar Stojanović
Perspectives and Contradictions in the Contemporary Development of Man” by Niculae Bellu and Alex. Tanase; Commentary by Andre Niel
Human Nature and Present Day Possibilities of Social Development” by Mihailo Marković, Commentary by Mathilde Niel
Participation, Bureaucracy, and the Limits of Tolerance: Concluding Dialogue with Paul Kurtz, Mihailo Marković, J. P. Van Praag, Niculae Bellu (pp. 153-165)

See also Paul Kurtz and Marxist Humanism @ Reason & Society.

Toward a New Political Humanism, edited by Barry F. Seidman and Neil J.Murphy. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004. Contents. See also web sites for Barry F. Seidman and Equal Time for Freethought.

For more on the Yugoslav Praxis School, see Praxis @ Reason & Society & Salvaging Soviet Philosophy (1).


Humanist Manifestoes

Humanist Manifesto I (1933).

Humanist Manifesto II (1973) by Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson.

Humanism and Its Aspirations: Humanist Manifesto III (2003).

A Secular Humanist Declaration (1980)

Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for a New Planetary Humanism (Paul Kurtz)

Amsterdam Declaration 2002 (IHEU)

Neo-Humanist Statement of Secular Principles and Values: Persosal, Progressive, and Planetary (Paul Kurtz, 2010)

Humanist Manifesto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Discussion Group Report: Humanist Manifesto III? by Richard Layton, December 1998.

The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles (Council for Secular Humanism)

Wilson, Edwin H. The Genesis of a Humanist Manifesto, edited by Teresa Maciocha. Amherst, NY: Humanist Press, 1995. Also available as online text.


Philosophical Expositions

Dewey, John. A Common Faith. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934.

Walton, Christopher L. "The Religious Availability of John Dewey's God." Philocrites. 30 Oct. 1997. 4 Feb. 2008.

A Common Faith, by John Dewey (A Summary and Comments)

Herrick, Jim. Humanism: An Introduction, with a preface by Laurie Taylor. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005. Contents.

Hook, Sidney. “The New Failure of Nerve,” in The Quest For Being, and Other Studies in Naturalism and Humanism (New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1961), pp. 73-94. Originally in Partisan Review, vol. 10, no. 1, January-February 1943, pp. 2-23.

See also related articles in book. See also related case studies in my Pessimism as Philosophy: A Jaundiced Selected Annotated Bibliography.

Humanism, Atheism: Principles and Practice, by Inga Kichanova, Boris Grigoryan, et al; translated by N. Kiteĺ. Moscow: Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, 1966. 248 pp. Introduction, pp. 3-9.

Ilyenkov, E. “Humanism and Science,” in Science and Morality, translated from the Russian (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), pp. 258-277.

Introduction to Humanism :: A Primer on the History, Philosophy, and Goals of Humanism (COHE: The Continuum of Humanist Education)

Lamont, Corliss. A Lifetime of Dissent. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988. See Chapter 1: "Equivocation on Religious Issues" (1934), pp. 9-20.

Lamont, Corliss. The Philosophy of Humanism. 8th ed., revised. Amherst, NY: Half-Moon Foundation, Inc., 1997.

Morain, Lloyd & Mary. Humanism as the Next Step. New rev. ed. Amherst, NY: Humanist Press, 1998.

Riepe, Dale. “Critique of Idealistic Naturalism: Methodological Pollution in the Main Stream of American Philosophy,” in Radical Currents in Contemporary Philosophy, edited by David H. DeGrood, Dale Riepe, & John Somerville (St. Louis, W. H. Green, 1971), pp. 5-22.

Robbins, J. Wesley. Essays in Pragmatic Humanism.

A Common Faith Revisited.

Roy Wood Sellars: Philosopher of Religious Humanism 1883-1973 by W. Preston Warren, Edwin H. Wilson, Roy Wood Sellers, Raymond B. Bragg

Sellars, Roy Wood. 15 Theses of Naturalistic Humanism.

Vaughn, Lewis; Dacey, Austin. The Case for Humanism: An Introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

Ethical Culture

Concept Map for Ethical Culture: Towards Philosophical Consensus. A Statement of the National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union. 1991.

Ericson, Edward L. The Humanist Way: An Introduction to Ethical Humanist Religion. New York: Continuum, 1988. Chapter 1.

Understanding Ethical Religion, edited by Howard B. Radest.

Journals

Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism (journal of the American Humanist Association)

Humanism Today (The Humanist Institute)

Secularism and Nonreligion (Vol. 1, 2012 -)

Research & Education Institutions

The Humanist Institute

Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS)

COHE :: The Continuum of Humanist Education

Webliographies & Bibliographies

Annotated Webliography of Humanism (3 Nov. 2007)


Voltaire’s philosophical tales: commentary by R. Dumain

La Humanisma Kadro de Julian Huxley, Evolua Etikisto” de Bernard Golden

Historical Surveys of Atheism, Freethought, Rationalism, Skepticism, and Materialism: Selected Works

Atheism / Freethought / Humanism / Rationalism / Skepticism / Unbelief / Secularism / Church-State Separation Web Links

Susan Haack — An Introductory Guide

American Philosophy Study Guide

Yugoslav Praxis Philosophy Study Guide

Ideology Study Guide

Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking: A Guide

Doubt & Skepticism: A Directed Minimal Bibliography & Web Guide

Pessimism as Philosophy: A Jaundiced Selected Annotated Bibliography

Offsite:

Reason & Society (offsite blog)

What’s in a name? What’s in a movement? (blog entry)

Introduction to Humanism:
Types of Humanism; beliefs & practices, Humanist manifestos; famous Humanists


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Last update 12 June 2021
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