Tuesday 23 October 2012

Paul Kurtz dies (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012)

Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was a prominent American skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having previously also taught at Vassar, Trinity, and Union colleges, and the New School for Social Research.
Kurtz published over 800 articles or reviews and authored and edited over 50 books. Many of his books have been translated into over 60 languages. They include The Transcendental Temptation, Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Secularism, The Courage to Become, and Multi-Secularism: A New Agenda. His published bibliography of writings from 1952 to 2003 runs over 79 pages.
Kurtz founded the publishing house Prometheus Books in 1969. He was also the founder and past chairman of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)), the Council for Secular Humanism, and the Center for Inquiry. On May 18, 2010, he resigned from all these positions. Moreover, the Center for Inquiry accepted his resignation as chairman emeritus and board member, the culmination of a years-long "leadership transition", thanking him "for his decades of service" while alluding to "concerns about Dr. Kurtz's day-to-day management of the organization". Kurtz renewed his efforts in organized Humanism by founding The Institute for Science and Human Values and its journal The Human Prospect: A NeoHumanist Perspective in June 2010.
At the Council of Secular Humanism's Los Angeles conference (7–10 October 2010), tension over the future of humanism was on display as Kurtz urged a more accommodationist approach to religion while his successors argued for a more adversarial approach. He was editor in chief of Free Inquiry magazine, a publication of the Council for Secular Humanism.
He was co-chair of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) from 1986-1994. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Humanist Laureate, president of the International Academy of Humanism and Honorary Associate of Rationalist International. As a member of the American Humanist Association, he contributed to the writing of Humanist Manifesto II. He was a editor of The Humanist, 1967-1978. The asteroid 6629 Kurtz was named in his honor.

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