WEBVTT

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Congratulations! You’ve completed Week Four.

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This week we’ve learned about how humanists
find the origins of morality inside human

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beings, in our evolution as a social animal.
Morality is not a set of non-negotiable rules

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handed down to us from on high, nor is it
just a matter of personal preference. Instead

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morality is rooted in our nature as human
beings. Our shared values give us ground on

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which we can build.
We’ve seen how there need not be an unbreachable

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dividing line between our own interests and
those of others. Being good to other people

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can enrich our own lives. It can be an important
ingredient of a life well lived.

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We’ve also learned how it isn’t always
easy. Values will sometimes come into competition

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with each other. We therefore need to think
for ourselves. We cannot escape this responsibility.

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Thankfully our capacity for reason and empathy
can support us to decide how we should act.

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There won’t always be right answers, but
sometimes there will be, and sometimes we

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will be able to find them.

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Perhaps most importantly, we’ve seen how,
for humanists, claims about what is the right

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thing to do need to be open to question. We
need to be able to argue about morality if

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we are to make progress in our moral understanding. Things are far from perfect -

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But as a humanist, and as a woman, I’d certainly
prefer to be alive today than at any other

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point in human history. I believe it is a
more humanist approach to ethics, one which

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values reason, empathy, evidence, and respect
for the autonomy of others, that has allowed

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us to make progress.

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However, I also don’t believe the journey
stops here.

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See you next week!