In a recent movie about Nelson Mandela and the emergence of South Africa from apartheid, the character playing the first black president quotes a poem by William Earnest Henley, "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."
The quote echoes the philosophy of secular humanism, defined simply as, "making man the measure." Humanism means precisely what Henley said in his poem. Man is the master. Man is the captain.
Read John’s article, When Man is the Measure, on Forthright Magazine.
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