Notable 20th Century Secular Humanists
by Kathy Brown on May 20th, 2009 | 3 comments
1. Margaret Sanger--Founder of Planned Parenthood. A eugenist. A socialist. Humanist of the Year 1957.
2. Alan F. Guttmacher--second president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Founder of Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood. The Guttmacher Institute is the sex education directional tool used by public school. Signer of the Humanist Manifesto II.
3. Faye Wattleton--Third president of Planned Parenthood. Humanist of the Year 1986.
4. Norman Fleishman--Executive vice president, Planned Parenthood World Population, Los Angeles. Signer of the Manifesto II.
5. Mary S. Calderone--Former medical director of Planned Parenthood. Actively promoted sex education in the public schools. Helped establish SIECUS (Sex Information Educational Council of the United States.) Humanist of the Year 1974.
6. Lester Kirkendall--Educator and promoter of a humanistic approach to human sexuality in public education. Author of numerous articles and pamphlets pertaining to sex education. Signer of the Humanist Manifesto II. Humanist of the Year 1983.
7. John Dewey--"Father of American Education". First president of the American Humanist Society. A socialist.
8. Sir Julian Huxley--Former head of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), Great Britain. Signer of the Humanist Manifesto II. Humanist of the Year 1962.
9. Carl Rogers--Psychotherapist. Founder of "Human Potential Movement"/ affective (feeling-based) education. Inspired public school's "values clarification". Humanist of the Year 1964.
10. Abraham Maslow--Co-worker with Carl Rogers (above.) A psychologist. Humanist of the Year 1967.
11. Lawrence Kohlberg--A Harvard psychologist influential in educational psychology. Proposed autonomous reason as a basis for ethics and utilized the "dilemma approach" (bomb shelter surviver dilemma/see *) to develop moral reasoning. Contributor to the Humanist Magazine.
12. B.F. Skinner--A Harvard professor noted for behaviorist psychology. Promoted concept of programmed learning through teaching machines and reinforcement by reward. (The Outcome Based Education type model used by many public schools, such as in Minnesota.) Humanist of the Year 1972.
13. Lawrence Lader--Chairman, National Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws. Signer of the Humanist Manifesto II.
14. Betty Friedan--Founder of National Organization of Women. Humanist of the Year 1975.
*If there is an impending nuclear bomb and the shelter can house only three people, who should be allowed in out of four people: eighty year old man, ingenious scientist, handicapped child or alcoholic woman? This scenerio is uses utilitarianism as its value system.
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3 Comments Add your comment
ApplyCreditCards May 28th, 2009
Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.
Kris June 2nd, 2009
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
Kathy Brown June 2nd, 2009
Thank you for your encouraging comments. Anything on the website is to share and use!
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