Mission Statement


"The mission of ISHV is to test knowledge by science and reason and to develop ethical values without religious foundations

that are relevant to the human condition."

Paul Kurtz

 

We are committed to the enhancement of human values and scientific inquiry. This combines both compassion and reason in realizing ethical wisdom. It focuses on the principles of personal integrity: individual freedom and responsibility. It includes a commitment to social justice, planetary ethics, and developing shared values for the human family.

Personal Morality

a. What is the place of the individual person in the contemporary world?

b. What is the meaning of life?

c. What are the sources of the principles of personal integrity in common human experience?

1.   Our first principle is the equal dignity and value of each person.

2.   The right of each person to pursue one's own rights consonant with the social good.

3.   The right of privacy concerning a person’s own beliefs and values.

4.   Each person should be treated as an end and not as a means.

5.   Each person is responsible for her/his own life and career.

6.   Society should provide wherever feasible the right to education and health care, safety and protection, and the satisfaction of the basis needs.

7.   Each individual should have equal opportunity where feasible to fulfill her/his own unique talents and potentialities.

8.   Cultivate reason, moral and aesthetic values, to raise her/his level of taste and appreciation, to expand her/his horizons for growth, to achieve creativity.

9.   The right to live with a partner or partners of her/his choice in equality, in a family and to raise children

10.   It is important that every effort be made to cultivate empathic and compassion attitude towards others, and altruistic concern.

11.   Every person shall have the right to participate democratically in the society.

12.   To develop the common moral decencies and the excellences of the good life.

13.   To be concerned with an enlightened self interest and also the common good.

14.   Hopefully she/he will express good will toward others and develop an optimistic outlook in life in which happiness and exuberance will be realized.

15.   All individuals live in a common habitat, the planet earth, hence every individual has a responsibility to be concerned with environmental integrity and to avoid the pollution of natural resources.

 It is apparent that everyone in the US. and other countries of the world face a moral crisis. In a rapidly changing global community there are conflicting religious, ideological and nationalist value systems. Neo-humanists affirm we need to discover values and principles, which can be shared by all sectors of humankind. These need to transcend the ancient dogmas and ideologies of the past.

 

We submit these principles as a basis for finding some common ground in the planetary civilization that is emerging. We offer these recommendations in the hope that they will inspire individuals to find meaning and integrity in their own lives.

 

We aim to be inclusive of all, regardless of gender, ethnicity or background to work together to  achieve a better life for themselves and all of humankind.

 

© Institute for Science and Human Values