Plenary, 08 Mar 2000

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 8, 2000

Official Report 407KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Thank you for inviting a representative of the Humanist Society of Scotland to share some reflections.

Today is International Women's Day. Perhaps it is easier for me, as a man, to say that the social empowerment of women worldwide will be a huge step forward in the march of our civilisation. Humanists in Scotland owe a particular debt to the late Mrs Margaret Knight of the University of Aberdeen, who, in 1955, was the first person to be allowed to talk about secular humanism on the BBC. The title of her series was "Morals without Religion", and that is the theme of this brief message.

It is a mistake to confuse ethics with religion. Secular humanists urge all the institutions of the state, and especially our educational institutions, to recognise openly that there is no necessary link between being good and being religious. The following quotation from the educationist R S Peters expands on that thought:

"It is often suggested that the only alternatives open to us are either the relics of some traditional code or some version of a subjectivist stance such as Existentialism or a ‘situational ethic'. But these, surely are not the only alternatives open. There is a middle way, which is closely connected with the use of reason. This enables people to adopt a critical attitude toward what has been established.

A rational morality cannot, however, be characterised purely in terms of the ability to reason, in the sense of making inferences. It must be supported by a group of rational passions connected with the demands for consistency, order, clarity and relevance; and in the sphere of interpersonal relations, by a capacity to look at rules and practices from other people's point of view and with a concern for their interests. In other words I am adopting a position in morals similar to that of David Hume, who argued for some kind of shared response amongst human beings, connected with sympathy, which he at times called ‘the sentiment of humanity'."

The splendid monument to David Hume in the High Street in Edinburgh, which was created by Alexander Stoddart and erected by the Saltire Society, shows him in classical garb holding a tablet of stone on which there is no writing. It symbolises the challenge to us to create standards and policies that are appropriate to our period of civilisation.

Finally, we offer for reflection some thoughts from the great humanist philosopher, Bertrand Russell, which he gave at the close of his autobiography:

"I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social, Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle and to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken."

Members of the Scottish Parliament, may your deliberations be fruitful and your decisions wise. Thank you for having laid the foundations for a Scotland that will be fit for the future.