Humanism! What exactly is it in a nutshell?

[Keithzworld]

Is it literally having faith in humanity? Or is there more to it than just that?

[Will]

It's a human-centric philosophy, but it's not human-worship. According to the Council on Secular Humanism, it's:

A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

Source

[The Magic Pudding]

It's a human-centric philosophy, but it's not human-worship. According to the Council on Secular Humanism, it's:

A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

Source

That is the definition of an evil blasphemer bound for hell.
No wonder the fundamentalists condemn humanism.

[Prometheus]

Wills post pretty much sums it up. I chose humanism as the topic for my honors speech a few years back. The focus of humanism(As I understand it) is to promote the prosperity of mankind here and now. This is different from many theistic systems in which followers are told to suffer injustice, poverty, etc in this life while maintaining moral behavior so that they can enjoy a blissfull afterlife in which all wrongs are righted. The goal seems to be to create a world which is as close to a "heaven" or "utopia" as possible through human action instead of divine intervention.

[Tank]

What sort of reception did your speech get and what type of audience did you give it to?

[hackenslash]

In a nutshell:

All belief and value systems should be put aside for the betterment of life for the majority.

That should cover it.

[epepke]

Humanism is difficult for me to figure out.

In the early 20th century, there was the Humanist Manifesto (later to be called Humanist Manifesto I, giving it a number like that war they had.)  A lot of it was how communism was going to save the world.

Then around 1980, there was a Humanist Manifesto II.  A lot of that was about how second-wave feminism was going to save the world.

Then around 1990 or a little bit afterward there was a Humanist Manifesto III.  This one seemed to me to hit the sweet spot, laying out basic ideas but not getting too restrictively political.

Now, I can't count the number of manifesti that are floating around or the number of organizations seeking to define humanism.

[kalb]

Que l 'oie sauvage porte mon message aussi loin que la lune! Que les ondes nées des ébats des poissons composent mon courrier!
La nuit précédente, un rêve, où les pétales toMBAient sur l''étang; La mi-printemp déjà passée, et toi, malheureuse, tu ne me reviens pas……
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[Helveticat]

"Humanist" is one of those words I used to use to describe myself but no longer would because its meaning seems to be moving ever closer to "committed atheist", at least in some quarters. For me the word suggests that our value judgements should take place on a human scale. My kind of "humanism" would have nothing to say about epistemology or metaphysics: Francis Bacon was a humanist but so was Dante, and if I say I'm a humanist I mean I consider myself to be in the tradition shared by both.

On the other hand, the British Humanist Association makes the following definition (http://www.humanism.org.uk, emphasis added) :

Humanists are atheists and agnostics who make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We take responsibility for our actions and base our ethics on the goals of human welfare, happiness and fulfilment. We seek to make the best of the one life we have by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves, individually and together.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

[wildfire_emissary]

Humanism: human beings are solely to be blamed for their success or failure.

[Prometheus]

What sort of reception did your speech get and what type of audience did you give it to?

I haven't been back to the site for a while. Sorry for the delay. The speech was given to the honors class of my college. About 30 people. It went over pretty well. I was the only one in class who didn't cover some deeply ingrained religious identity so it was much easier to ask me questions without offending. Most of my classmates seemed genuinely interested in the subject and my question session ran a bit over my allotted time. It was a great group, i wish i had maintained contact with them. They were mostly christians but we could easily sit down and have a calm and rational debate without anyone raisinng the threat of "going to hell" or exploding into some emotionally charged, irrational response.

[Sophus]

Que l 'oie sauvage porte mon message aussi loin que la lune! Que les ondes nées des ébats des poissons composent mon courrier!
La nuit précédente, un rêve, où les pétales toMBAient sur l''étang; La mi-printemp déjà passée, et toi, malheureuse, tu ne me reviens pas……
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Ummm..... okay?