Intro Quiz: How do Humanists work out what is right or wrong?

Video: How do Humanists work out what is right or wrong?

﻿Hello everyone. And welcome to our next RE lesson together. My name is Miss Harrison, and we're going to continue learning about Humanism today. And today we are going to think about how humanists work out what is right and what is wrong. So where they get those beliefs from and their ethics. So, let's begin. So our learning question today is just that, "How do humanists work out what is right and what is wrong?" In our lesson today, we are going to recap those humanist beliefs that we know so far. Then we're going to think about why we have rules in our society and in different situations. And we're then going to think about whether humanists have their own set of rules that they need to follow. And we're going to then think about how they work out, how they decide, what's the right thing to do and what's the wrong thing to do, and how can we make sure that our actions don't harm other people or other animals? So we've got a lot to get through today. Let's get started. Now, before we kick off our lesson, you are going to need some paper or a notebook in front of you. You're going to need a pen or pencil that you can write with. And, of course, you are going to need your amazing, creative, inquisitive brain. If you don't have one of those things in front of you, or if you just want to find a nice, quiet, calm space to work in today, you can pause the video now and do that. Okay, fantastic. Let's get started. So, first of all, let's recap what we know so far about the beliefs of humanists. So, we already know that humanists believe that humans were not created by a God, but that we evolved over millions of years. Now, that's not just a belief that humanists have. Lots of other people believe that as well. But the difference is that humanists do not think that we were created by a God. And they just believe in the science of evolution. The second belief we've looked at already is that humans beings have very special and human life is valuable. That's a really key belief of humanists. And humanists base their beliefs on science and evidence, rather than faith in a supernatural power, like a God or gods. So, let's have a look at our next question for today: "Why do we have rules in life?" So you can see some pictures on the screen. There are lots of different situations in our lives when we have rules that we have to follow. I want you to have a think about different situations when we have rules. So I want you to write a list of all of those different situations or places where you have to follow a set of rules. And why do those situations have rules to follow? So have a think. Think about the pictures. Think about your own life. When is a situation when you have to follow a set of rules and why are those rules in place? I want you to pause the video and write down as many of those situations as you can think of and why we have rules. Have a go. Okay, I hope you've got a nice long list of different situations where we have to follow rules. And let's have a look at some of the ones that I thought of. So, we have rules and laws in society to keep everyone safe. So we have specific rules that everybody in the country has to follow so that everybody is safe. And people like police officers are there to enforce those rules and make sure that everybody is safe. Then, we also have rules in school. And that's to help everybody to be able to learn as well as keeping children safe in school as well. Then we have rules on the road to prevent accidents. So we have signs and we have traffic lights and we have specific places where people can cross the road. And that's to prevent there being accidents and people getting hurt. We also have rules in sport, in lots of different sports games to make sure that it's fair for everybody involved. And then, you might have specific rules in your family that you all follow to keep everybody happy. So those are just some of the examples of situations where we have rules that we have to follow. I wonder which other ones you managed to think of today as well. So, now let's relate that to humanists. And let's think about: "Do humanists have a set of rules to follow?" Now, some religious people have a set of rules that they have to follow. And sometimes these are written down in a religious text. And that might be different depending on different religions. But humanists are non-religious people, and they don't have a set text. They believe that we shouldn't accept all rules just because they're written down. And they believe that humans have an individual responsibility for our own actions. So they believe that we should think carefully about the rules that we're told. Now that doesn't mean that humanists don't follow rules. Humanists will still generally follow rules and see them as helpful in our society. But they believe that the reason behind a particular rule is because it leads to good consequences, not just because somebody said so. So, they need to think about themselves and think carefully for themselves about what the right thing to do in a certain situation is. So, now I have a question for you. It's a true or false. Have a think. "Humanists have their own set of rules written down in a special text." Is that true or is it false? Pause the video now and write your answer down. Okay, let's see if you managed to get it right. So, the question was "Humanists have their own set of rules written down in a special text." And the answer was false. So well done if you've got false. You can give yourself a tick. Humanists do not look to God or special texts for rules. But they believe that everybody should think carefully about their actions and what's the right way to live. So they don't have a set of rules written down, but they think everybody should think carefully in certain situations and think about the right thing to do. So now, let's think about: "How do humanists work out what is right and what is wrong?" Well, humanists should consider every particular situation. They don't think that there's one answer for things that are right or wrong in all situations. They have to take the particular situation that's happening at that moment. And they need to think about the effect of their choices on other people or other animals involved. And humanists will then decide on the kindest course of action. So one phrase that kind of sums up this view of humanism and what's right and what's wrong is this phrase, "Think for yourself, act for everyone." So this shows that humanist approach of thinking about each situation and deciding carefully, what is the best action for everyone involved. So what's going to bring and what's going to be the kindest action that's not going to cause anybody any harm. So that's a really important thing to bear in mind. So this approach of deciding what's right and wrong relies on three specific things. And those are "Reason", which means thinking carefully about the individual situation, "Experience", so thinking about how you might have felt in the past if this has happened to you before, and then "Empathy", so imagining how someone else will feel and how your actions will impact upon them. So reason, experience, and empathy. Have a look carefully at those definitions. I'm going to mix them up now and I want you to match them. So here I have those three bits of vocabulary: reason, experience, and empathy. I want you to look carefully at those three definitions on the right hand side and write down the correct definition that goes with each word. Pause the video now and have a go. Okay, let's see if you managed to get those correct. So, the first word we had was "Reason". And reason means thinking carefully about the individual situation. If you've written down that definition for reason, give yourself a big tick. If you need to fix it, that's okay. You can do that now. Then we had a look at the word "Experience". An experience means thinking about how you might have felt in the past if this is something that's happened to you before. If you've got that definition right, give yourself a big tick. And then finally we had "Empathy". And empathy means imagining how someone else will feel and how your actions will impact on them. So double check that you've got all three of those definitions correct. Give yourself a big tick if you have. Well done. If you need to fix it, just pause the video now and you can fix it, that's okay. So, I have another quote here from a philosopher. And this is from Socrates, who was a Greek philosopher who lived in the fifth century BCE in Greece. And that's a very, very long time ago. And this is a kind of quotation that can... that can relate to the views of humanism on what's right or wrong. And Socrates said, "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." So basically, we shouldn't do anything to other people that if someone did it to us, it would make us angry. And that relates to the humanist view of what's right and what's wrong. So let's now think about, "How can we make sure that our actions don't harm others?" Now, one thing that one thing that humanists use to kind of guide them in what's right or wrong is something called "The Golden Rule". And this Golden Rule is widely believed all over the world and has been stated and written down in various different religions and different cultures throughout history. So it's not just humanists that rely on this rule. It's a very, very wide spreading rule but humanists also agree with it. And it has a positive and a negative version. So our positive version is "Treat others how you would like to be treated yourself." And the negative version is "Do not treat others in a way that you would not like to be treated yourself." So it's very similar to what Socrates said all the way those hundreds of hundreds of years ago in ancient Greece. So that's something that lots of people agree with. But humanists in particular, use that to guide their decisions on what's right and what's wrong. Now, the difference is, is that humanists don't think that this rule was created by God, and they don't believe it just because it's written down. They believe that the Golden Rule evolved naturally due to the fact that human beings have long lived together in communities. So, because we've evolved from animals and you can see there a picture of chimpanzees, which are our closest living relative, they believe that the Golden Rule evolved as humans evolved. Because humans always lived in social groups, we're very social animals. And we've evolved to work together and cooperate. And this Golden Rule grew from our natural capacity to reason, so to discuss things and to decide things, and to empathise, to understand the emotions of other people. So that's what humanists and that's where humanists believe that the Golden Rule came from. And therefore they use that to guide them in their decision-making for what's right and what's wrong. So, bearing that in mind and bearing in mind all that we've learned about how humanists decide on the right or wrong course of action, I have an example of a situation that I'd like you to think about and decide how a humanist might act. So, here's our situation. So we know that one of the school rules is that you should not lie. You're playing football with your friend at lunchtime when your friend leaves to go to the toilet. While he's gone, an older child comes over and asks you where your friend is. You know that the other, the older child, doesn't like your friend and plans to be unkind to him. But you've also been told that it's wrong to lie and there are no teachers around to help. So, should you tell the truth and let your friend possibly get hurt? Or should you lie to the older child? I want you to think about the humanist process of working out what's right and wrong. And I want you to write down how a humanist might respond to this problem. So pause the video now, see if you can write that down. Okay. Hopefully you have an answer written down. I've written down an answer, too, so you can check whether you agree with what I've written. So, the question was, "Should you tell the truth and follow the rules or should you let your... and let your friend get hurt? Or should you lie to the older child?" Now, I would say that a humanist would probably consider the individual situation and think about the consequences for their friend if they were to tell the truth. They might use their skills of empathy, which means understanding other people's emotions and compassion, which means being kind to people, and realise that their friend would get hurt if they told the truth. Therefore, the kindest action in this situation might be to lie. I wonder if you agreed with that, or if you wrote something different. Really fantastic. Well done team. Now that's the end of our lesson for today. Well done for all of your hard work. I hope you enjoyed thinking about those questions of how we decide what's right and what's wrong and which rules to follow. Now, if you've enjoyed our lesson today, and you're really proud of the work that you have produced, and you want to share that with the Oak National team, you could ask a parent or carer to take a photo of your work and upload it to social media, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. That way some of your teachers might be able to see the wonderful work that you have been doing. So, great work today, team, and I will be back next lesson to learn more about Humanism. I'll see you-

Exit Quiz: How do Humanists work out what is right or wrong?

Completed: How do Humanists work out what is right or wrong?

In this lesson, we will think about why we have rules in our everyday lives and where those rules come from. We will then look at the ways that Humanists decide what is right or wrong and decide on the best course of action in different situations.

Religious Education

How do Humanists work out what is right or wrong?

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