As we have seen, two historical streams are represented in modern Humanism: the Renaissance tradition with its strong focus on and delight in human endeavor, especially as encountered in the classics of Roman and Greek literature. and the Enlightenment tradition with its strong emphasis on the rational study of humanity to the exclusion of any recourse to a supernaturalist frame of interpretation.
We reaffirm our place in modern Humanism, and describe Ethical Culture as:
- A practical humanism in its focus on what we can do for and with our fellow humans to create a more just and humane world; we look to human resources to solve human problems.
- A philosophical humanism that (a) proclaims the supremacy of ethics as a basis for understanding and guiding life, and (b) that gains conceptual leverage on human existence by placing the fulcrum of understanding firmly in human experience and particularly in human moral experience.
We are therefore Ethical Humanists and often use that name interchangeably with that of Ethical Culturists.
©1997-2007 Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
this page last revision: 4/23/07