AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE OPEN COURT, in which the series of articles constituting this work originally appeared, has given account of many forms of faith, supplementary or confirmatory of its own, and sometimes of forms of opinions dissimilar where there appeared to be instruction in them. It will be an advantage to the reader should its editor state objections, or make comments, as he may deem necessary and useful. English Secularism is as little known in America as American and Canadian Secularisation is understood in Great Britain. The new form of free thought known as English Secularism does not include either Theism or Atheism. Whether Monism, which I can conceive as a nobler and scientific form of Theism, might be a logical addition to the theory of Secularism, as set forth in the following pages, the editor of The Open Court may be able to show. If this be so, every open-minded reader will better see the truth by comparison. Contrast is the incandescent light of argument.
George Jacob Holyoake.
Eastern Lodge,
Brighton, England, February, 1896.
CONTENTS
[ CHAPTER I. ] OPEN THOUGHT THE FIRST STEP TO INTELLIGENCE
[ CHAPTER II. ] THE QUESTION STATED
[ CHAPTER III. ] THE FIRST STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ITS NATURE AND LIMITATION
[ CHAPTER IV. ] THE SECOND STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ENTERPRISE
[ CHAPTER V. ] CONQUESTS OF INVESTIGATION
[ CHAPTER VI. ] STATIONARINESS OF CRITICISM
[ CHAPTER VII. ] THIRD STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT—SECULARISM
[ CHAPTER VIII. ] THREE PRINCIPLES VINDICATED
[ CHAPTER IX. ] HOW SECULARISM AROSE
[ CHAPTER X. ] HOW SECULARISM WAS DIFFUSED
[ CHAPTER XI. ] SECULAR INSTRUCTION DISTINCT FROM SECULARISM
[ CHAPTER XII. ] THE DISTINCTIVENESS MADE FURTHER EVIDENT
[ CHAPTER XIII. ] SELF-DEFENSIVE FOR THE PEOPLE
[ CHAPTER XIV. ] REJECTED TENETS REPLACED BY BETTER
[ CHAPTER XV. ] MORALITY INDEPENDENT OF THEOLOGY
[ CHAPTER XVI. ] ETHICAL CERTITUDE
[ CHAPTER XVII. ] THE ETHICAL METHOD OF CONTROVERSY
[ CHAPTER XVIII. ] ITS DISCRIMINATION
[ CHAPTER XIX. ] APART FROM CHRISTIANISM
[ CHAPTER XX. ] SECULARISM CREATES A NEW RESPONSIBILITY
[ CHAPTER XXI. ] THROUGH OPPOSITION TO RECOGNITION
[ CHAPTER XXII. ] SELF-EXTENDING PRINCIPLES