Paul Kurtz
American · North America · 1925 to 2012
American philosopher who led the modern secular humanist movement and helped found the council that issued A Secular Humanist Declaration in 1980.
What it is
Paul Kurtz (1925 to 2012) was an American philosopher and one of the leading figures of the secular humanism movement, often called "the father of secular humanism". Secular humanism is the view that people can lead good, meaningful lives and work out right and wrong by reason and shared human concern, without belief in the supernatural.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he served in the US Army in the Second World War, then studied at New York University and Columbia. He taught philosophy at several colleges and, from 1965 until he retired in 1991, at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Much of his influence came from the organisations, magazines and publishing house he founded.
The main ideas
- Humanism without religion. He argued for a humanism that stands clearly apart from religion. He edited The Humanist magazine from 1967 to 1978, helped write Humanist Manifesto II, and began the magazine Free Inquiry in 1980.
- Eupraxsophy. He coined this word, from Greek roots, for a life stance made of convictions and practices that does without belief in the supernatural. He set the idea out in a book that carries the title Living without Religion in later editions.
- Skepticism about the paranormal. He founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and, in 1976, its magazine Skeptical Inquirer, to examine claims about astrology, faith healing and similar beliefs and to counter anti-science attitudes.
- Institutions. He founded the publishing house Prometheus Books in 1969, the Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry (1991). After resigning from those in 2010 he started the Institute for Science and Human Values.
What it looks like in practice
Picture someone who has left the religion they grew up in and wants more than the absence of belief: a way to talk about what they care about, how to treat others and how to find out what is true. Kurtz's answer was that such a person does not need a church to have a worldview. They can build one from careful inquiry, concern for other people and a willingness to test claims. This is an illustration of his position, not a quotation.
Books and moments
- The Transcendental Temptation (1991) is his critique of religion and the paranormal.
- Living without Religion sets out the idea of a life stance without the supernatural.
- Skeptical Inquirer (1976) is the magazine of the committee he founded, and Free Inquiry (1980) is the humanist one.
Questions and criticism
- Is humanism a religion? Earlier humanists spoke of religious humanism, and some still think the word fits. Kurtz wanted a clear break, and coined a new word for what secular humanism is if it is not a religion. People still disagree about whether a life stance can meet the needs religion meets without anything like a religion.
- Where does skepticism stop? Examining claims about the paranormal is one thing; applying the same test to religion, as he also did, is another. How firmly a humanist should oppose religion, rather than live alongside it, is a question the movement he built has argued about.
- Can a movement outlast its founder's style? He resigned from the organisations he had built in 2010, and the pages that tell the story do not agree on why.
Close neighbours
His ideas belong to secular humanism, which has its own page, and sit near atheism and naturalism, which also reject belief in the supernatural.
Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 10 October 2026. The sources are listed below.
Philosophies they belong to or are close to
Other American thinkers
- Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1803 to 1882
- Henry David Thoreau · 1817 to 1862
- Charles Sanders Peirce · 1839 to 1914
- William James · 1842 to 1910
- Josiah Royce · 1855 to 1916
- John Dewey · 1859 to 1952
- George Santayana · 1863 to 1952
- Roy Wood Sellars · 1880 to 1973
- Ayn Rand · 1905 to 1982
- Thomas Kuhn · 1922 to 1996
Sources we used
- Paul Kurtz · University at Buffalo (UBNow), read on 10 October 2026
- Paul Kurtz · Wikipedia, read on 10 October 2026
- Paul Kurtz · Freedom From Religion Foundation, read on 10 October 2026
- Paul Kurtz, 1925-2012 · Thought and Action (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), read on 10 October 2026