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Humanism – the only valid foundation for ethics
1992
A Conway Memorial Lecture by Humanists UK’s longest serving President: Hermann Bondi.
1992
A Conway Memorial Lecture by Humanists UK’s longest serving President: Hermann Bondi.
As well as being a prominent mathematician and cosmologist, Hermann Bondi was the longest serving President of the British Humanist Association (now Humanists UK), holding the title for nearly two decades. Passionately curious and deeply humane, Bondi believed in working actively with others to improve the world for everyone. This ideal formed the kernel of this 1992 Conway Memorial Lecture, during which he emphasised that what makes us truly human is our relationship with other people. ‘It is in service to others,’ Bondi suggested, ‘it is as members of the community, that our existence lies.’ It is through this that humanists believe our morality has evolved. Bondi noted that:
ethics can only come, can only be based on, a real belief in human beings. And that is what we call Humanism… the only logical basis for living with others is to value others.