(Redirected from Freethinker)'Freethought' is a
philosophical viewpoint that holds that
beliefs should be formed on the basis of
science and
logical principles and not be compromised by
authority,
tradition, or any other
dogma. The cognitive application of freethought is known as ''freethinking'', and practitioners of freethought are known as ''freethinkers''.
Overview
Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to
knowledge and
reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their
beliefs on the basis of
facts,
scientific inquiry, and
logical principles, independent of any factual/logical
fallacies or intellectually-limiting effects of
authority,
cognitive bias,
conventional wisdom,
popular culture,
prejudice,
sectarianism,
tradition,
urban legend, and all other
dogmatic or otherwise
fallacious principles. As such, when applied to
religion, the philosophy of freethought holds that, given presently-known facts, established scientific theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of
supernatural phenomena.
A line from "Clifford's Credo" by the 19th Century British mathematician and philosopher
William Kingdon Clifford perhaps best describes the premise of freethought: ''"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."'' Since many laws, doctrines, and popular beliefs are based on dogmas, freethinkers' opinions are often at odds with commonly-established views.
Symbol
The
pansy, symbol of freethought.
The
pansy has long been the symbol of freethought, originally being used in the literature of the
American Secular Union in the late 1800s. The reasoning behind the pansy being the symbol of freethought lies in both the flower's name and appearance. The pansy derives its name from the French word ''pensée'', which means "thought"; it was so named because the flower resembles a human face, and in the month of August it nods forward as if deep in thought.
[1]
History
Origins
There is a very old
tradition and re-invention of individual
intellectual freedom and freethought, in most philosophical and
religious thought systems, against and despite the
literalist interpretations and constraints. That tradition holds that everyone can find one's
way, through personal effort, with help from friends and
mentors. Its history extends from prehistoric
shamans engaging on a personal journey to the superior world, to the Indo-Asian world, to the Mediterranean
gnostic synthesis, to medieval Islam, to bright spots and trails of the Middle Ages, finally to the modern individuation from
metaphysics through the
scientific method of
experimentation and
falsification. In philosophical
Buddhism, freethought was advocated by
the Buddha, such as in the text ''
Kalama Sutta''.
:''"It is proper for you, Kalamas [the people of the village of Kesaputta], to doubt, to be uncertain;'' ''uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, 'The monk is our teacher.' Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are bad; these things are blameable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them.
:''"...Do not accept anything by mere tradition... Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures... Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your pre-conceived notions... But when you know for yourselves—these things are moral, these things are blameless, these things are praised by the wise, these things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to well-being and happiness—then do you live acting accordingly."''
The web of transmissions and reinventions of critical thought meanders from the Hellenistic Mediterranean, through repositories of knowledge and wisdom in
Ireland and the
Muslim civilizations (e.g.
Khayyam and his unorthodox
sufi Rubaiyat poems), in other civilisations as the Chinese (e.g. the sea-faring
Southern Sòng's
renaissance), and through
heretical thinkers of esoteric
alchemy or
astrology, to the
Renaissance and the
protestant Reformation.
French physician and writer
Rabelais, celebrated "rabelaisian" freedom and good feasting and drinking (an expression and a symbol of freedom of the mind), in defiance of the
hypocrisies of
conformist orthodoxy, in his
utopian Thelema Abbey (from θέλημα: free "will"), the devise of which was "Do ''What Thou Wilt''":
:''"So had Gargantua established it. In all their rule and strictest tie of their order there was but this one clause to be observed, Do What Thou Wilt; because free people ... act virtuously and avoid vice. They call this honor."''
When his hero Pantagruel, journeys to the "Oracle of The Div(in)e Bottle", he learns the lesson of life in one simple word: ''"Trinch!"'', Drink!, Enjoy simple life, Learn
wisdom and
knowledge, as a free human.
Beyond
puns,
irony, and
satire, Gargantua's prologue
metaphor instructs the reader to "break the bone and suck out the substance-full marrow" (''"la substantifique moëlle"''), the core of wisdom.
Modern movements
The year 1600 is hailed by many as the beginning of the era of modern freethought, as it is marked by the execution in Italy of
Giordano Bruno by the
Holy Inquisition.
England and France
The term ''Free-Thinker'' emerged toward the end of the 17th century in
England to describe those who stood in opposition to the
institution of the
Church and literal belief in the
Bible. The beliefs of these individuals was centered around the concept that people could understand the world through consideration of nature. Such positions were formally documented for the first time in 1697 by
William Molyneux in a widely publicized letter to
John Locke and more extensively in 1713 when
Anthony Collins wrote his ''Discourse of Free-Thinking,'' which gained substantial popularity. In
France, the concept first appeared in publication when
Denis Diderot,
Jean le Rond d'Alembert and
Voltaire included an article on ''Libre-Penseur'' in their
Encyclopédie in 1765; the article was strongly
atheistic. The European freethought concepts spread widely so that even places as remote as the
Jotunheimen in
Norway had well-known freethinkers such as
Jo Gjende by the 19th century.
The Freethinker magazine was first published in
Britain in 1881.
Germany
In
Germany during the period (1815-1848) before the
March Revolution, the resistance of citizens against the dogma of the church increased. In 1844 under the influence of
Johannes Ronge and
Robert Blum the belief in the
rights of man, tolerance among men, and
humanism grew and by 1859 they established the ''Bund Freireligiöser Gemeinden Deutschlands''(Union of free-thinking communities in Germany). This union still exists today, and is included as a member in the umbrella organization of free humanists. In 1881 in
Frankfurt am Main,
Ludwig Büchner established ''Deutschen Freidenkerbund'' as the first German organization for atheists. In
Hamburg in 1882 the social-democratic ''Freidenker-Gesellschaft'' was formed.
Belgium
The Free University of Brussels, also known as the
Université Libre de Bruxelles /
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (ULB / VUB), along with the two Circles of Free Inquiry (Dutch and French speaking) defend the freedom of critical thought, the rejection of the
argument of authority, and
lay philosophy and
ethics.
ULB physicist and chemist
Ilya Prigogine (1917 - 2003) received the 1977
Chemistry Nobel Prize for his work on the
entropy of
dissipative and self-organizing natural systems, allowing a better
lay understanding of the
fundamental freedom of
complex nature and
life, against
simplistic newtonian determinism.
United States
Driven by
revolutions of 1848 in the German states, the 19th century saw
immigration of
German freethinkers and atheists to the
United States. They appear to be the first in the United States to refer to themselves as Freethinkers. Many of them settled in
Texas, founding the town of
Comfort, Texas, as well as others. Their
settlements had no
church buildings, and these newcomers were persecuted and sometimes killed for their
opposition to the institution of
slavery. In 1994, a few freethinkers founded the
Church of Freethought, which now exists as two active congregations of freethinkers: the
North Texas Church of Freethought and the
Houston Church of Freethought.
German Freethinker settlements were located in –
★ Latium, Washington County, Texas
★ Millheim, Austin County, Texas
★ Sisterdale, Kendall County, Texas
★ Tusculum, Kendall County, Texas
★ Castell, Llano County, Texas
★ Comfort, Kendall County, Texas |
★ Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas
★ Meyersville, DeWitt County, Texas
★ Ratcliffe, DeWitt County, Texas
★ Shelby, Austin County, Texas
★ Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois
★ Hermann, Gasconade County, Missouri |
Anglophone Canada
The earliest known secular organization in English Canada is the Toronto Freethought Association, founded in 1873 by a handful of secularists. Reorganized in 1877 and again in 1881, when it was renamed the Toronto Secular Society, the group formed the nucleus of the Canadian Secular Union, established in 1884 to bring together freethinkers from across the country.
A significant number of the early members appear to have been drawn from the educated labour “aristocracy,” including Alfred F. Jury, J. Ick Evans and J. I. Livingstone, all of whom were leading labour activists and secularists. The second president of the Toronto association was T. Phillips Thompson, a central figure in the city’s labour and social reform movements during the 1880s and 1890s and arguably Canada’s foremost late nineteenth-century labour intellectual. By the early 1880s, freethought organizations were scattered throughout southern Ontario and parts of Quebec, and elicited both urban and rural support.
The principal organ of the freethought movement in Canada was ''Secular Thought'' (Toronto, 1887-1911). Founded and edited by English freethinker, Charles Watts (1835-1906), during its first several years, the editorship was assumed in 1891 by Toronto printer and publisher James Spencer Ellis when Watts returned to England.
Canadian Freethought groups are essentially atheist, base their philosophy on freethought and humanist principles, and are becoming increasingly popular. An example of a successful freethought group is the
Society of Ontario Freethinkers.
See also
References
1. [1]
★ Jacoby, Susan (2004). ''Freethinkers: a history of American secularism''. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 0-8050-7442-2
★ Royle, Edward (1974). ''Victorian Infidels: the origins of the British Secularist Movement, 1791-1866''. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0557-4
Online version
★ Royle, Edward (1980). ''Radicals, Secularists and Republicans: popular freethought in Britain, 1866-1915''. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0783-6
★ Tribe, David (1967). ''100 Years of Freethought''. London: Elek Books.
External links
★
Freethoughtpedia.com - A Wiki dedicated to Freethought and secular content, arguments relating to theism and nontheist criticism of religion and religious philosophy
★
BookTalk.org - the freethinker's book community
★
A History of Freethought
★
[2] - Freethought Forums... based in Lexington KY
★
The Freethinker - Secular Humanist Monthly, since 1881
★
The Freethinker - Online Magazine for Rational Freethinking Minds
★
Albert Einstein: ''Becoming a Freethinker and a Scientist''
★
PunkerSlut Freethought
★
The Freedom from Religion Foundation
★
Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
★
FreeThoughtFilter Latest links to news articles of interest to free thinkers.
★
Freethinkers - A History of American Secularism'', a book on the subject
★
The Infidel Guy - a popular radio show broadcast over the Internet.
★
Freethought Radio, Internet Radio Station for Atheists and Agnostics, Freethinkers, Skeptics, Liberals, Transhumanists, Rationalists, Humanists, Naturalists, and Religious Historians.
★
Free Inquiry, a magazine published by the Council for Secular Humanism, which addresses Freethought issues.
★
Christians refuse to recognize heritage of Freethought in Texas
★ Spiritual Deists
[3]
★
fritenkerordboka.org
★
Digital Freethought's Video series covering Atheism 101 on YouTube
★
Sir Isaac Newton: Logical framework that frees
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