Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logic and should not be influenced by emotion, authority, tradition, or any dogma. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek, plural) is the established Belief or The cognitive application of freethought is known as freethinking, and practitioners of freethought are known as freethinkers.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Symbol 3 History 3.1 Origins 3.2 Modern movements 3.2.1 England and France 3.2.2 Germany 3.2.3 Belgium 3.2.4 United States 3.2.5 Anglophone Canada 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Overview

Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality Knowledge is defined ( Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience or education the theoretical or practical understanding Reason involves the ability to think understand and draw Conclusions in an Abstract way as in Human thinking 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. Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Generally a fact is defined as something that is true something that actually exists or something that can be verified according to an established standard of evaluation Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. A fallacy is a component of an Argument which being demonstrably flawed in its Logic or form renders the argument invalid in whole In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium For an article about the conceptual problems of the mind see Cognitive closure (philosophy. Conventional wisdom (CW is a term used to describe ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field Popular culture (or pop culture) is the Culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance — The word prejudice refers to prejudgment making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event Sectarianism is Bigotry, Discrimination, Prejudice or Hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek, plural) is the established Belief or A fallacy is a component of an Argument which being demonstrably flawed in its Logic or form renders the argument invalid in whole 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 religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events

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. William Kingdon Clifford FRS ( May 4, 1845 &ndash March 3, 1879) was an English Mathematician and " (see evidentialism) Since many laws, doctrines, and popular beliefs are based on dogmas, freethinkers' opinions are often at odds with commonly held established views. Evidentialism is a Theory of justification according to which whether a Belief is justified depends solely on what a person's evidence is

Symbol

The pansy is the long-established and enduring symbol of freethought; its usage inaugurated in the literature of the American Secular Union in the late 1800s. The pansy or pansy violet s are a large group of plants cultivated as garden Flowers Pansies are derived from Viola tricolor and can include The American Secular Union was a social movement from the 1800s in the United States. 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 the idea of individual intellectual freedom and freethought in most philosophical and religious thought systems, against and despite the literalist interpretations and constraints. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact viewpoint Fundamentalism refers to a "deep and totalistic commitment" to a belief in and strict adherence to a set of basic principles (often Religious in nature a reaction That tradition holds that everyone can find one's way, through personal effort, with help from friends and mentors. Tao ( 道, Pinyin Dào) is a metaphysical concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or 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. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena In scientific inquiry an experiment ( Latin: Ex- periri, "to try out" is a method of investigating particular types of research questions or Falsifiability (or "refutability" is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment 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. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Siddhārtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual Teacher from Ancient India and the founder The Kalama Sutta ( Sanskrit: Kalama Sutra กาลามสูตร Kalama Sut) is a Buddhist sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya 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 re-inventions of critical thought meanders from the Hellenistic Mediterranean, through repositories of knowledge and wisdom in Ireland and the Muslim civilizations (e. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion g. Khayyam and his unorthodox sufi Rubaiyat poems), and in other civilizations, as the Chinese, (e. For the Thoroughbred racehorse see Omar Khayyam (horse Ghiyās od-Dīn Abol-Fath Omār ibn Ebrāhīm Khayyām Neyshābūri (غیاث الدین Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ( Persian: رباعیات عمر خیام The Rubáiyát ( Arabic: رباعیات is a collection of Poems g. the sea-faring Southern Sòng's renaissance),^[2] and on through heretical thinkers of esoteric alchemy or astrology, to the Renaissance and the protestant Reformation. The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief especially a religion that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief Alchemy a part of the Occult Tradition is both a philosophy and a practice with an ultimately unknown aim involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time

French physician and writer Rabelais celebrated '"rabelaisian" freedom as well as 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 English history, Conformists were those whose religious practices conformed with the requirements of the Act of Uniformity and so were in concert The word orthodox, from Greek orthodoxos "having the right opinion" from orthos ("right true straight" + doxa ("opinion Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the Thelema is a philosophy of life based on the rule or law "Do what thou wilt 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 the hero of his book, Pantagruel, journeys to the "Oracle of The Div(in)e Bottle", he learns the lesson of life in one simple word: "Trinch!", Drink! Enjoy the simple life, learn wisdom and knowledge, as a free human. Wisdom is a concept of personal gaining of Knowledge, Understanding, Experience, discretion and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity Knowledge is defined ( Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience or education the theoretical or practical understanding 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. Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects

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. Giordano Bruno (1548 – February 17, 1600) was an Italian Philosopher best-known as an early proponent of Heliocentrism and

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 of literal belief in the Bible. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Institutions are structures and mechanisms of Social order and Cooperation governing the Behavior of a Set of Individuals Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The beliefs of these individuals were centered on 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. See Molyneux for others of the same surname William Molyneux ( 17 April[[ 656]] &ndash 11 October[[ 698]] both in Dublin John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. Anthony Collins ( June 21, 1676, Old Style - December 13, 1729, Old Style) was an English philosopher and a In France, the concept first appeared in publication in 1765 when Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Voltaire included an article on Libre-Penseur in their Encyclopédie; the article was strongly atheistic. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Denis Diderot ( October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French Philosopher and writer François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences des arts et des métiers (Encyclopedia or a systematic dictionary of the sciences arts and crafts was a general Atheism The European freethought concepts spread so widely that even places as remote as the Jotunheimen, in Norway, had well-known freethinkers, such as Jo Gjende, by the 19th century. Jotunheimen ( English: The Home of the Giants is a mountainous area of roughly 3500 km² in Southern Norway. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Jo Gjende ( 1794 - February 27, 1884) was a Norwegian outdoorsman and Freethinker.

The Freethinker magazine was first published in Britain in 1881. The Freethinker is a British secular humanist journal founded by G The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927

Germany

In Germany, during the period (1815-1848) and before the March Revolution, the resistance of citizens against the dogma of the church increased. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. " Germany " at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 had been a collection of 39 States loosely bound together in the German Confederation. In 1844, under the influence of Johannes Ronge and Robert Blum, belief in the rights of man, tolerance among men, and humanism grew, and by 1859 they had established the Bund Freireligiöser Gemeinden Deutschlands (Union of Secular Communities in Germany). Robert Blum ( 10 November 1807 - 9 November 1848) was a German politician and member of the National Assembly of 1848 Rights of Man (1787 by Thomas Paine, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people their natural rights Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal 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 (German Freethinkers League) as the first German organization for atheists. Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig Büchner ( March 29, 1824 &ndash May 1, 1899) was a German Philosopher, Physiologist and The German Freethinkers League ('Deutscher Freidenkerbund' was an organisation founded in 1881 by the Philosopher, Physiologist and Physician In Hamburg in 1882 the social-democratic Freidenker-Gesellschaft was formed. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany

Belgium

The Free University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles / Vrije Universiteit Brussel), along with the two Circles of Free Inquiry (Dutch and French speaking), defend the freedom of critical thought, lay philosophy and ethics, while rejecting the argument of authority. The Université Libre de Bruxelles (or ULB) is a French -speaking University in Brussels The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish University located in Brussels, Belgium. In religious organizations the laity comprises all persons who are not Clergy. Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in Logic called a fallacy

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, and making an argument against the concept of simplistic newtonian determinism. The Université Libre de Bruxelles (or ULB) is a French -speaking University in Brussels Ilya Viscount Prigogine (Илья́ Рома́нович Приго́жин ( January 25, 1917 &ndash May 28, 2003) was a Russian The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature In Thermodynamics (a branch of Physics) entropy, symbolized by S, is a measure of the unavailability of a system ’s Energy Another meaning of "dissipative system" is one that dissipates heat see heat dissipation. Freedom, or the idea of being free is a broad concept that This article describes complex systems as field of Science. For other meanings see Complex system. Determinism is the philosophical Proposition that every event including human cognition and behaviour decision and action is causally determined

United States

Driven by the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, the 19th century saw an immigration of German freethinkers and atheists to the United States. " Germany " at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 had been a collection of 39 States loosely bound together in the German Confederation. Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 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. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Comfort is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kendall County, Texas, United States. Their settlements had no church buildings, and these newcomers were persecuted and sometimes killed for their opposition to the institution of slavery. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another 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. The North Texas Church of Freethought (NTCoF was founded in 1994 to serve Psychosocial needs of Atheists Agnostics and other non-religious people ^[3]

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. Latium was a region of ancient Italy, home to the original Latin people. Washington County is a County in the US state of Texas, known for the Convention of 1836 where the Texas Declaration of Independence Millheim is a borough in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. Austin County is a County located in the US state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area Kendall County is a County located in the US state of Texas. In 2000 census, its population was 23743 For other uses of Tusculum see Tusculum (disambiguation. Tusculum is the classical Roman name of a major ancient Alban Hills city in A castell is a human tower traditionally built during festivals in many places in Catalonia, Spain. Llano County (ˈlænoʊ is a County located in the US state of Texas. Comfort is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kendall County, Texas, United States. Colorado County is a County located in the US state of Texas. DeWitt County is a County located in the US state of Texas. In 2000 its population was 20013 Belleville is a city in St Clair County, Illinois, United States. St Clair County is a County located in the US state of Illinois, and determined by the U Hermann is a city designated in 1842 as the County seat of Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. Gasconade County is a County in the US state of Missouri. Located in the Missouri Rhineland the population was 15342 as of the 2000 census English Canada is a term used to describe one of the following English Canadians a term usually meaning English-speaking Canadians as opposed to 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. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk

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.

See also

Golden Age of Freethought Freethought Day Atheism Agnosticism Nontheism Deism Irreligion Infidel Religious skepticism Positivism

Evidentialism Secular humanism Empiricism Scientism Occam's Razor Rationalism Cynicism Secularism Ethical Culture Freedom of thought Conflict thesis

The Freethinker Center for Inquiry - On Campus Freedom From Religion Foundation The Godless Americans PAC Camp Quest Brethren of the Free Spirit Fellowship of Reason

References

External links

• A History of Freethought

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic