The Courage to Become: The Virtues of Humanism

by Paul Kurtz

Book Overview

Does life have meaning if one rejects belief in God? This book responds affirmatively to that question. Paul Kurtz, America's leading secular humanist, provides a powerful defense of the humanist alternative, rejecting both religious spirituality and nihilism. In this inspirational book, Kurtz outlines the basic virtues of the secular humanist outlook. These virtues include courage, not simply to be or to survive, but to overcome and become; that is, to fulfill our highest aspirations and ideals in the face of obstacles. The two other virtues Kurtz identifies are cognition (reason and science in establishing truth) and moral caring (compassion and benevolence in our relationships with others.) Kurtz offers an optimistic appraisal of the human prospect and outlines a philosophy both for the individual and the global community.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275960161
• ISBN13: 9780275960162
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The core values of secular humanism

In this eloquent little book, Paul Kurtz expounds upon the three core values of secular humanism: courage, cognition, and caring. The section on cognition can be somewhat heavy going at points for non-philosophers (and frankly I disagree very much with the pragmatic emphasis) but most of the book reads like a sermon. This book offers inspiration without appeal to religion, and will challenge those who think atheists cannot have high standards of personal conduct and civic duty.