Philosophy

You don』t need to know Plato and Aristotle to be a humanist

Academic philosophers call on Amber Rudd to reconsider decision to refuse Pakistani’s request for asylum on the grounds that he did not mention Plato and Aristotle when questioned about humanism

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Fri 26 Jan 2018 14.23 GMT

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As academic philosophers, including many from the UK, we implore the home secretary, Amber Rudd, to reconsider the decision to refuse Hamza bin Walayat’s request for asylum on the grounds that he did not mention Plato and Aristotle when questioned about humanism (Pakistani denied asylum after he failed to answer Plato question, 18 January). Knowledge of Plato and Aristotle is not a reliable test for whether someone is a humanist. Even in the UK, one could be or become a humanist without ever encountering them.

There is no scholarly basis to think that Plato or Aristotle were humanist thinkers, which is defined by Humanists UK as atheists or agnostics who believe in leading a good life on the basis of reason and our common humanity. Both hold that there is a divine realm and stress its philosophical importance. Plato presents arguments for the existence of a divine creator, the immortality of the soul, and proposes a source of value in a supernatural domain independent of the human world (and thus does not reject religious belief). Aristotle is also complex: he believes in an objective human good, but he also believes that this good is shaped by its relation to a divine Unmoved Mover.

At any rate, in general, one need not know who the humanist thinkers are to be a humanist; similarly, one need not know who the Christian thinkers are to be a Christian (by this definition there would be few genuine Christians in the UK).

Dr Helen De Cruz Senior lecturer in philosophy, Oxford Brookes University
Professor Christopher Bertram Department of philosophy, University of Bristol
Professor James Lenman Department of philosophy, University of Sheffield
Dr Tasia Scrutton Associate professor, University of Leeds
Dr Rebecca Roache Senior lecturer in philosophy, Royal Holloway, University of London
Dr Ian James Kidd Assistant professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Katherine Dormandy DPhil (Oxford), Lise-Meitner Research Fellow, University of Innsbruck
Dr Brendan Larvor Reader in philosophy, University of Hertfordshire
Liam Kofi Bright Assistant professor of philosophy, logic and scientific method, London School of Economics
Dr Kate Kirkpatrick Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire
Professor Angie Hobbs Professor of the public understanding of philosophy, University of Sheffield
Professor Jennifer Saul Department of philosophy, University of Sheffield
Dr Komarine Romdenh-Romluc Senior lecturer in philosophy, University of Sheffield
Dr Jonathan Lanman School of history, anthropology, philosophy and politics, Queen’s University Belfast
Dr Joseph Kisolo-Ssonko Teaching associate, department of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr Chris Woodard Associate professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr Zachary Hoskins Assistant professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr Stephen Law Reader in philosophy, Heythrop College, University of London. Member of the Humanist Philosophers』 Group and author of Humanism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2011)
Dr Craig French Assistant professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Professor David Papineau King’s College London and City University of New York
Dr Matthew Duncombe Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr Rebecca Bamford Associate professor of philosophy, Quinnipiac University; adjunct professor of philosophy, University of Fort Hare
Dr Kenneth L Pearce Ussher assistant professor in Berkeley studies (early modern philosophy), Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Dr Mark Jago Associate professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Professor Bill Brewer Susan Stebbing professor of philosophy and head of department, King’s College London
Dr Eleanor Knox Senior lecturer in philosophy, King’s College London
Dr Shaul Tor Lecturer in ancient philosophy, King’s College London
Dr Ellen Fridland Lecturer in philosophy, King’s College London
Dr Sara L Uckelman Assistant professor of philosophy, Durham University
Dr Clayton Littlejohn Reader in philosophy, King’s College London
Professor David E Cooper Emeritus professor of philosophy, Durham University
Dr Katharine Jenkins Assistant professor of philosophy, University of Nottingham
Dr John Callanan Senior lecturer in philosophy, King’s College London
Professor AC Grayling Master of New College of the Humanities, supernumerary fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford, and co-editor of the Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism
Dr Nigel Warburton Freelance philosopher
Professor John Harris Professor emeritus, University of Manchester and visiting professor in Bioethics Department of Global Health & Social Medicine School of Global Affairs, King’s College London
Professor Kate Soper Emerita professor of philosophy, London Metropolitan University
Professor Helen Beebee Samuel Hall professor of philosophy, University of Manchester
Dr Ardon Lyon Ex-lecturer at Durham and City universities
Professor Janet Radcliffe Richards Professor of practical philosophy, University of Oxford
Professor Eric Olson Professor of philosophy, University of Sheffield
Professor Simon Blackburn Professor of philosophy, University of Cambridge
Professor Emeritus RA Duff Department of philosophy, University of Stirling
Nick Everitt Senior lecturer in philosophy, University of East Anglia
Peter Cave Lecturer in philosophy for the Open University and City University, London and chair of the Humanist Philosophers Group
Professor Richard Norman, Emeritus professor of moral philosophy, University of Kent
Professor Peter Millican Professor of philosophy, University of Oxford
Dr Andrew Chitty Senior lecturer in philosophy, University of Sussex
Julian Baggini Associate reader in philosophy, University of Kent
Rev Canon Professor Keith Ward Regius professor of divinity emeritus, Christ Church, University of Oxford
Dr Eliot Michaelson Lecturer in philosophy, King’s College London
Professor John Benson Emeritus professor of philosophy, Lancaster University

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Topics

Philosophy

Amber Rudd

Immigration and asylum

Atheism

Pakistan

South and Central Asia

letters

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本文來源：https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/26/you-dont-need-to-know-plato-and-aristotle-to-be-a-humanist