Living Humanism: Part 1

How should we conduct ourselves in our daily lives? On what bases should we be deciding on our personal conduct and actions? And what should we be aiming for when we are thinking about, and making decisions about our personal conduct and our actions? Taking a Humanist perspective which places our human well-being at the centre of our thinking, Living Humanism puts forward a range of core and other guiding principles considered central to influencing and deciding on our personal conduct and actions. Living Humanism then examines and discusses the application and implementation of these principles in terms of the wide spectrum of situations, questions and issues relevant to our everyday living, focusing on areas such as our support and help for others, friendship, kindness, love, acting with fairness and justice and our relationship with and actions with regard to the non-human world. In Living Humanism Part 1, having set out the underlying thinking underpinning the guide, and having identified and put forward core and other guiding principles, this first part of the guide then considers the nature of, and the application of these principles, within the context of separate chapters focused on supporting others, our communities and societies; being fair and just; truthfulness, honest and integrity; our emotions and our use of rationality and reason; our pursuit of pleasure, happiness and fulfilment, as well as our relationship to resources, money and possessions. The ideas and discussion in Living Humanism Part 1 are summarised and consolidated, together with ideas and discussion from part two of the guide, in the final chapter of Living Humanism Part 2.