Secular Humanism came up in passing over on the politics subforum, and the response to it was overwhelmingly that Secular Humanists have no basis for saying whether something is right or wrong and thus I should not have political opinions one way or the other..
I suspect discussions have been had here before regarding whether an 'absolute morality' exists as the religious contend, or whether or not it is required for morality to have any meaning, but I don't think I've ever seen a discussion about how Secular Humanism is functionally different from Nihilism.
Secular Humanism in a nutshell in my opinion is that things that lead to the most people being happy without violating individual autonomy are broadly 'good', while things that make people unhappy or violate individual autonomy are broadly 'bad'. Nihilism on the other hand essentially claims that nothing matters, and that we should each do what makes us happy without worrying too much about ethics. However if you take Nihilism to the extreme, you run into the classic Hobbesian problem whereby if everyone acts selfishly at all times, everyone will be miserable.
If all can agree that human happiness is as close to an 'objective' moral good as we know to exist, would it be inaccurate to think of Secular Humanism as an extended nihilistic philosophy whereby we establish subjective 'goods' and 'evils' for the benefit of all? Maybe Secular Humanism is nihilism, it is just a more complex and more helpful framework on it.
I suspect discussions have been had here before regarding whether an 'absolute morality' exists as the religious contend, or whether or not it is required for morality to have any meaning, but I don't think I've ever seen a discussion about how Secular Humanism is functionally different from Nihilism.
Secular Humanism in a nutshell in my opinion is that things that lead to the most people being happy without violating individual autonomy are broadly 'good', while things that make people unhappy or violate individual autonomy are broadly 'bad'. Nihilism on the other hand essentially claims that nothing matters, and that we should each do what makes us happy without worrying too much about ethics. However if you take Nihilism to the extreme, you run into the classic Hobbesian problem whereby if everyone acts selfishly at all times, everyone will be miserable.
If all can agree that human happiness is as close to an 'objective' moral good as we know to exist, would it be inaccurate to think of Secular Humanism as an extended nihilistic philosophy whereby we establish subjective 'goods' and 'evils' for the benefit of all? Maybe Secular Humanism is nihilism, it is just a more complex and more helpful framework on it.