Author: Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz is editor-in-chief of FREE INQUIRY and professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
New Directions: Centers for Inquiry and Human Enrichment
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is the newest star on the cultural horizon. Readers of this magazine should by now be familiar with its existence. The Center for Inquiry–International in Amherst, New York, is headquarters of the Council for Secular Humanism, publisher of Free Inquiry. Since there are now over a dozen Centers for Inquiry …
This article is available for free to all.Two Competing Moralities: The Principles of Fairness contra ‘Gott Mit Uns’
This article is available for free to all.
Re-enchantment: The New Enlightenment
The term Enlightenment refers to a unique set of ideas and ideals that came to fruition in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It began with Bacon, Descartes, Locke, and other philosophers who sought a universal method for establishing knowledge. They looked to science as the model for knowledge and debated whether reason or …
The Ethics of Humanism Without Religion
The question is constantly asked: What is the ethics of humanism? Can a society or person be moral without religion? Yes, indeed, affirm secular humanists. Morality is deeply rooted in the “common moral decencies” (these relate to moral behavior in society) and the “ethical excellences” (as they apply to a person’s own life). The Common …
This article is available for free to all.When Should We Speak Out?
In the last issue of Free Inquiry, we published an editorial criticizing the morality of the pre-emptive war against Iraq. It was written before the war began and published after its start. Several readers objected strongly to this. This raises the basic question: Should secular humanism as a movement ever take political positions? Surely individual …
This article is available for free to all.The Immorality of The War Against Iraq
Free Inquiry magazine does not endorse political candidates nor political parties. We recognize the wide diversity of political viewpoints among secular humanists. We do, however, take positions concerning two vital issues: first, we support humanist ethical principles on grounds independent of religion; and second, we defend the separation of church and state. By both these …
This article is available for free to all.The Court of Wisdom Convenes
The Center for Inquiry is committed to the use of science, reason, and freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor. But is this enough? There is an abundance of experts in modern society in virtually all fields of human endeavor, and these include hundreds, no doubt thousands, of disciplines and fields—from algebra and …