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24 chapters
A Grammar of Freethought.
A Grammar of Freethought.
BY CHAPMAN COHEN. ( Issued by the Secular Society, Ltd. ) London: THE PIONEER PRESS, 61 Farringdon Street, E.C. 4. 1921. The Publishers wish to express their obligation to Mr. H. Cutner for the very tasteful design which adorns the cover of this book....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
It must be left for those who read the following pages to decide how far this book lives up to its title. That it leaves many aspects of life untouched is quite clear, but there must be a limit to everything, even to the size and scope of a book; moreover, the work does not aim at being an encyclopædia, but only an outline of what may fairly be regarded as the Freethought position. Freethought, again, is too fluid a term to permit its teachings being summarized in a set creed, but it does stand
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CHAPTER I. OUTGROWING THE GODS.
CHAPTER I. OUTGROWING THE GODS.
One of the largest facts in the history of man is religion. If it were otherwise the justification for writing the following pages, and for attempting the proof that, so far as man's history is concerned with religion, it is little better than a colossal blunder, would not be nearly so complete. Moreover, it is a generalization upon which religionists of all classes love to dwell, or even to parade as one of the strongest evidences in their favour; and it is always pleasant to be able to give yo
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CHAPTER II. LIFE AND MIND.
CHAPTER II. LIFE AND MIND.
The outstanding feature of what may be called the natural history of associated life is the way in which biologic processes are gradually dominated by psychologic ones. Whatever be the nature of mind, a question that in no way concerns us here, there is no denying the importance of the phenomena that come within that category. To speak of the first beginnings of mind is, in this connection, idle language. In science there are no real beginnings. Things do not begin to be, they simply emerge, and
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CHAPTER III. WHAT IS FREETHOUGHT?
CHAPTER III. WHAT IS FREETHOUGHT?
Freedom of thought and freedom of speech stand to each other as the two halves of a pair of scissors. Without freedom of speech freedom of thought is robbed of the better part of its utility, even if its existence is not threatened. The one reacts on the other. As thought provides the material for speech, so, in turn, it deteriorates when it is denied expression. Speech is, in fact, one of the great factors in human progress. It is that which enables one generation to hand on to another the disc
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CHAPTER IV. REBELLION AND REFORM.
CHAPTER IV. REBELLION AND REFORM.
Rebellion and reform are not exactly twins, but they are very closely related. For while all rebellion is not reform, yet in the widest sense of the word, there is no reform without rebellion. To fight for reform is to rebel against the existing order and is part of the eternal and fundamentally healthful struggle of the new against the old, and of the living present against the dead past. The rebel is thus at once a public danger and a benefactor. He threatens the existing order, but it is in t
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CHAPTER V. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CHILD.
CHAPTER V. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CHILD.
If the truth of what has been said above be admitted, it follows that civilization has two fundamental aspects. On the one side there is the environment, made up—so far as civilized humanity is concerned—of the ideas, the beliefs, the customs, and the stored up knowledge of preceding generations, and on the other side we have an organism which in virtue of its education responds to the environmental stimuli in a given manner. Between the man of to-day and the man of an earlier generation the vit
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CHAPTER VI. THE NATURE OF RELIGION.
CHAPTER VI. THE NATURE OF RELIGION.
It is no mere paradox to say that religion is most interesting to those who have ceased to believe in it. The reason for this is not far to seek. Religious beliefs play so large a part in the early history of society, and are so influential in social history generally, that it is impossible to leave religion alone without forfeiting an adequate comprehension of a large part of social evolution. Human development forms a continuous record; our institutions, whatever be their nature, have their ro
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CHAPTER VII. THE UTILITY OF RELIGION.
CHAPTER VII. THE UTILITY OF RELIGION.
The real nature of religion being as stated, it having originated in an utterly erroneous view of things, it would seem that nothing more can be needed to justify its rejection. But the conclusion would not be correct, at least so far as the mass of believers or quasi-believers are concerned. Here the conviction still obtains that religion, no matter what its origin, still wields an enormous influence for good. The curious thing is that when one enquires "what religion is it that has exerted thi
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CHAPTER VIII. FREETHOUGHT AND GOD.
CHAPTER VIII. FREETHOUGHT AND GOD.
Why do people believe in God? If one turns to the pleas of professional theologians there is no lack of answers to the question. These answers are both numerous and elaborate, and if quantity and repetition were enough, the Freethinker would find himself hopelessly "snowed under." But on examination all these replies suffer from one defect. They should ante-date the belief, whereas they post-date it. They cannot be the cause of belief for the reason that the belief was here long before the argum
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CHAPTER IX. FREETHOUGHT AND DEATH.
CHAPTER IX. FREETHOUGHT AND DEATH.
In the early months of the European war a mortally wounded British soldier was picked up between the lines, after lying there unattended for two days. He died soon after he was brought in, and one of his last requests was that a copy of Ruskin's Crown of Wild Olive should be buried with him. He said the book had been with him all the time he had been in France, it had given him great comfort, and he wished it to be buried with him. Needless to say, his wish was carried out, and "somewhere in Fra
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CHAPTER X. THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT.
CHAPTER X. THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT.
In the preceding chapter I have only discussed the fact of death in relation to a certain attitude of mind. The question of the survival of the human personality after death is a distinct question and calls for separate treatment. Nor is the present work one in which that topic can be treated at adequate length. The most that can now be attempted is a bird's eye view of a large field of controversy, although it may be possible in the course of that survey to say something on the more important a
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CHAPTER XI. EVOLUTION.
CHAPTER XI. EVOLUTION.
Language, we have said above, is one of the prime conditions of human greatness and progress. It is the principal means by which man conserves his victories over the forces of his environment, and transmits them to his descendants. But it is, nevertheless, not without its dangers, and may exert an influence fatal to exact thought. There is a sense in which language necessarily lags behind thought. For words are coined to express the ideas of those who fashion them; and as the knowledge of the ne
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CHAPTER XII. DARWINISM AND DESIGN.
CHAPTER XII. DARWINISM AND DESIGN.
The influence of the hypothesis of evolution on religion was not long in making itself felt. Professor Huxley explained the rapid success of Darwinism by saying that the scientific world was ready for it. And much the same thing may be said of the better representatives of the intellectual world with regard to the bearing of evolution on religion. In many directions the cultivated mind had for more than half a century been getting familiar with the general conception of growth in human life and
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CHAPTER XIII. ANCIENT AND MODERN.
CHAPTER XIII. ANCIENT AND MODERN.
In the preceding chapters we have, without saying it in so many words, been emphasizing the modern as against the ancient point of view. The distinction may not at first glance appear to be of great moment, and yet reflection will prove it to be of vital significance. It expresses, in a sentence, the essence of the distinction between the Freethinker and the religionist. Objectively, the world in which we are living is the same as that in which our ancestors lived. The same stars that looked dow
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CHAPTER XIV. MORALITY WITHOUT GOD.
CHAPTER XIV. MORALITY WITHOUT GOD.
The mystery-monger flourishes almost as well in ethics as he does in theology. Indeed, in some respects he seems to have forsaken one field of exercise only to find renewed scope in the other. He approaches the consideration of moral questions with the same hushed voice and "reverential" air that is so usual in theology, and talks of the mystery of morality with the same facility that he once talked about the mystery of godliness—and with about an equal amount of enlightenment to his hearers or
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CHAPTER XV. MORALITY WITHOUT GOD. (Continued.)
CHAPTER XV. MORALITY WITHOUT GOD. (Continued.)
In the preceding chapter I have been concerned with providing the most meagre of skeleton outlines of the way in which our moral laws and our moral sense have come into existence. To make this as clear as possible the chapter was restricted to exposition. Controversial points were avoided. And as a matter of fact there are many religionists who might concede the truth of what has been said concerning the way in which morality has arisen, and the nature of the forces that have assisted in its dev
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CHAPTER XVI. CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY.
CHAPTER XVI. CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY.
The association of religion with morality is a very ancient one. This is not because the one is impossible without the other, we have already shown that this is not the case. The reason is that unless religious beliefs are associated with certain essential social activities their continuance is almost impossible. Thus it happens in the course of social evolution that just in proportion as man learns to rely upon the purely social activities to that extent religion is driven to dwell more upon th
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CHAPTER XVII. RELIGION AND PERSECUTION.
CHAPTER XVII. RELIGION AND PERSECUTION.
Intolerance is one of the most general of what we may call the mental vices. It is so general that few people seem to look upon it as a fault, and not a few are prepared to defend it as a virtue. When it assumes an extreme form, and its consequences are unpleasantly obvious, it may meet with condemnation, but usually its nature is disguised under a show of earnestness and sincere conviction. And, indeed, no one need feel called upon to dispute the sincerity and the earnestness of the bigot. As w
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CHAPTER XVIII. WHAT IS TO FOLLOW RELIGION?
CHAPTER XVIII. WHAT IS TO FOLLOW RELIGION?
Books on the future of religion are numerous, and to one blessed with a sense of humour, full of entertainment. They are also not without instruction of a psychological kind. Reliable information as to what the future will be like they certainly do not give, but they do unlock the innermost desires of the writers thereof. They express what the writers of the prophecies would like the future to be. And they create the future state on earth exactly as devout believers have built up the character o
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THE SECULAR SOCIETY, Limited.
THE SECULAR SOCIETY, Limited.
Registered Office : 62 Farringdon Street, London, E.C. 4. Secretary : Miss E. M. VANCE. The Memorandum of Association sets forth that the Society's Objects are:—To promote the principle that human conduct should be based upon natural knowledge, and not upon supernatural belief, and that human welfare in this world is the proper end of all thought and action. To promote freedom of inquiry. To promote universal Secular Education. To promote the complete secularization of the State, etc. And to do
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National Secular Society.
National Secular Society.
President : CHAPMAN COHEN. Secretary : Miss E. M. VANCE. 62 Farringdon Street, London, E.C. 4. Secularism teaches that conduct should be based on reason and knowledge. It knows nothing of divine guidance or interference; it excludes supernatural hopes and fears; it regards happiness as man's proper aim, and utility as his moral guide. Secularism affirms that Progress is only possible through Liberty, which is at once a right and a duty, and therefore seeks to remove every barrier to the fullest
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PIONEER PRESS PUBLICATIONS
PIONEER PRESS PUBLICATIONS
By CHAPMAN COHEN. THEISM OR ATHEISM? The Great Alternative. Bound in Full Cloth, Gilt Lettered. Price 5s., postage 3d. Contents : Part I.—An Examination of Theism. —Chapter I.—What is God? Chapter II.—The Origin of the Idea of God. Chapter III.—Have we a Religious Sense? Chapter IV.—The Argument from Existence. Chapter V.—The Argument from Causation. Chapter VI.—The Argument from Design. Chapter VII.—The Disharmonies of Nature. Chapter VIII.—God and Evolution. Chapter IX.—The Problem of Pain. Pa
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PIONEER LEAFLETS.
PIONEER LEAFLETS.
WHAT WILL YOU PUT IN ITS PLACE? By Chapman Cohen . Price 1s. 6d. per 100, postage 3d. DYING FREETHINKERS. By Chapman Cohen . Price 1s. 6d. per 100, postage 3d. THE BELIEFS OF UNBELIEVERS. By Chapman Cohen . Price 1s. 6d. per 100, postage 3d. ARE CHRISTIANS INFERIOR TO FREETHINKERS? By Chapman Cohen . Price 1s. 6d., per 100, postage 3d. DOES MAN DESIRE GOD? By Chapman Cohen . Price 1s. 6d. per 100, postage 3d. The Pioneer Press , 61 Farringdon Street, E.C. 4. READ THE FREETHINKER EDITED BY CHAPMA
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