Ode to Reason

          During the Middle Ages, tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft. One of the most common methods of execution was burning at the stake. This was usually preceded by torturing the victim until she confessed to any of various witch activities, including eating babies, destroying crops, wrecking ships, flying on broomsticks on the Sabbath, transforming people into dogs and cats, etc. Other times the accused witch would be tied up and cast into a lake. If she floated, it was taken as evidence that she was indeed guilty, and she would then be hanged. If she sank and drowned, that meant she had been innocent after all. Oops.

          The sheer absurdity of these practices is mind-boggling. How could anyone be convinced that these were good policies to implement in society? Imagine what it must have been like for the reasonable few who no doubt realized the insanity of this process but could not point out the obvious or else they too might be sent to the torture chambers. It would have been bad enough if the torture executions were punishments for actual crimes, but no. All of this unbearable suffering and agony was in fact completely and utterly pointless.

          This plague of irrationality ruled Europe-indeed, the entire world-for century after century. It was not until around 1650 that a paradigm shift began to occur, first among intellectuals and eventually to society in general-the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. Led by great thinkers such as John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, and Thomas Jefferson, the Enlightenment is my favorite period in history because it triggered a cultural movement that continues to this day which is now embodied by the philosophy of humanism.

          Humanism is all about reason. If I want to convince you that something is true, I ought to provide good reasons to justify that it is true. I should be able to point to verifiable, empirical evidence (or at least produce a sound logical argument) to support my claim, and the more extraordinary the claim, the more extraordinary the evidence ought to be. In the case of witchcraft, a truly extraordinary claim, if medieval people had been committed to reason, they would have demanded to see actual evidence far beyond personal testimony that witchcraft is even real. They should have expected the accuser to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that people really had been transformed into dogs and cats.

          Humanists also require that people be open-minded to opposing viewpoints and be willing to change their minds if compelling evidence is presented against their beliefs. We embrace skepticism because we know that people are fallible and can easily be fooled, and we reject appeals to faith, tradition, or authority because they are not valid sources of knowledge. One implication of having a humanist worldview is a tremendous appreciation for science. Though I have often argued on behalf of nonhuman animals, Homo sapiens has always been my favorite species due to our incredible scientific achievements and quest for understanding. The fact that we can cure diseases, communicate across the globe, and fly to the moon is not only reason for humanity to celebrate, but, for me at least, it is downright beautiful.

          I believe that humanism even provides a basis for a system of ethics. Reason tells us that as one of many conscious beings experiencing the universe, there is no particular significance to our own well-being as opposed to anyone else’s. Thinking from an unbiased, neutral perspective, the idea of selfishness is incoherent. I can’t appeal to you to take my interests into consideration without extending that same courtesy back to you if I want you to take me seriously. To quote one of my heroes, Steven Pinker: “I can’t act as if my interests are special just because I’m me and you’re not, any more than I can persuade you that the spot I am standing on is a special place in the universe just because I happen to be standing on it.”

          Despite the cultural shift towards humanism in the past few centuries, examples of irrationality are clearly still prevalent in today’s society, ranging from relatively harmless superstitions like astrology to quite dangerous ones such as militant religion. (Fortunately, things are getting better.) I cannot discount myself completely from being part of the problem. Like everyone else, I am not perfect. I am subject to biases that steer me towards acting selfishly. No doubt those biases have also led me to hold some false beliefs. Also, while it’s not necessarily irrational, I have contributed next to nothing to humanity’s vast pool of knowledge, and this makes me feel small compared to the great minds of history. I spend much more time playing games on my Kindle (is it even ethical for me to own a Kindle?) than I do reading scholarly articles. Still, though I may not be the next Renaissance Man, I think there is a spectrum from Snooki to Stephen Hawking, and I pride myself in at least being closer to the Hawking side. I try to think rationally about every issue, and I make an honest effort to do what I think is right and convince others to do the same. There is no greater compliment someone could pay me than to tell me I am a reasonable man because nothing will satisfy me more upon my deathbed than knowing that I lived my life as committed to reason as possible.