Uncertain Humanism and the Water of Whiteness

IN 2005, one of today’s most revered American writers, David Foster Wallace (now deceased), delivered a commencement address to graduates of Kenyon College, titled “This Is Water.” The twenty-minute speech is worth a listen or read, freely available on YouTube and in Wallace’s eponymous 2009 collection, This Is Water: Some...

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Features

Up Front

Pathologies of Power

"A tyranny," Plato says in the Republic, "is the wretchedest form of government," and "a tyrant grows worse from having power: he becomes and is of necessity more jealous, more faithless, more unjust, more friendless, more...

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Reviews

Elsewhere in the Humanist:

By Conscience Alone

We are here today to present the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year award to Jelani Cobb. The award was established in 1953 to recognize a person of national or international reputation who, through the application of humanist values, has made...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

The Future of Civic Power

At this moment in history, we have a clear challenge and opportunity. There is the long-term challenge of educating for expansive civic engagement, and there is the immediate challenge of responding to growing attacks on the very structure of democracy and an...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

Curing Loneliness: How Humanism Can Bring Us Closer Together

Fish Stark is the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association. This article is adapted from his remarks at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. “The most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

Hearing the Voices of People on the Ground

Amy Goodman received the Humanist of the Year Award at the American Humanist Association’s 83rd Annual Conference, held virtually in September 2024. The award recognizes a person of national and international reputation who, through the application of humanist values, has made a...

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