What is the meaning of life? How should we live? How can I be good? What happens when we die?
The Big Questions is a brand new series of publications in which we aim to offer humanist perspectives on how to lead confident, happier, and more fulfilled lives in the one life we have. This series will explore some of the fundamental questions in our lives: questions about life, death, morality, meaning, and happiness — and will hopefully help you along the way to living a good life.
Each publication, written by a different guest author, will also delve a little deeper into humanist thought and provide some guidance on further reading to give you a rounded understanding of the ideas underpinning these big questions.
Each publication is available to download for free for you to keep.
Living Well
By Richard Docwra
Living Well pulls together some of the topics that we will explore in more detail later in the series. It touches on the questions of what it means to think well, how to find life’s meaning, being good, and finally how to think about death. This is the perfect place to start for a clear, practical introduction into the humanist’s vision of the good life.
About the author
Richard Docwra is a writer, coach, and consultant who has written extensively on a variety of topics related to culture, politics, and the art of living. He is the author of Modern life – as good as it gets? published by Green Books in 2008, and his articles have appeared in a wide range of magazines and websites.
Being Good
By Richard Norman
Most people have some idea of how to be good. They may not always do it, but they know how to do it. They know how to be kind, how to be helpful, how to show compassion, how to be honest. But for a humanist there is more to being good than that, and the ‘more’ is what Richard Norman explores in this publication.
About the author
Richard Norman is Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Kent and a patron of Humanists UK. He is the author of Ethics, Killing and War (1994), On Humanism (2004), and was the editor of the collection of essays Religion and Atheism (2017).