Living Humanism: Part 1: A Guide to Personal Conduct and Action for the Twenty First Century and Beyond

By Philip Nathan

How should we conduct ourselves in our daily lives? On what bases should we be deciding on our personal conduct and actions? And what should we be aiming for when we are thinking about, and making decisions about our personal conduct and our actions? 
Taking a Humanist perspective which places our human well-being at the centre of our thinking, Living Humanism puts forward a range of core and other guiding principles considered central to influencing and deciding on our personal conduct and actions. Living Humanism then examines and discusses the application and implementation of these principles in terms of the wide spectrum of situations, questions and issues relevant to our everyday living, focusing on areas such as our support and help for others, friendship, kindness, love, acting with fairness and justice and our relationship with and actions with regard to the non-human world. 
In Living Humanism Part 1, having set out the underlying thinking underpinning the guide, and having identified and put forward core and other guiding principles, this first part of the guide then considers the nature of, and the application of these principles, within the context of separate chapters focused on supporting others, our communities and societies; being fair and just; truthfulness, honest and integrity; our emotions and our use of rationality and reason; our pursuit of pleasure, happiness and fulfilment, as well as our relationship to resources, money and possessions. 
The ideas and discussion in Living Humanism Part 1 are summarised and consolidated, together with ideas and discussion from part two of the guide, in the final chapter of Living Humanism Part 2.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781838596231

Book preview

Living Humanism: Part One

How should we conduct ourselves in our daily lives? On what bases should we be deciding on our personal conduct and actions? And what should we be aiming for when we are thinking about, and making decisions about our personal conduct and our actions?

Taking a Humanist perspective which places our human well-being at the centre of our thinking, Living Humanism puts forward a range of core and other guiding principles considered central to influencing and deciding on our personal conduct and actions. Living Humanism then examines and discusses the application and implementation of these principles in terms of the wide spectrum of situations, questions and issues relevant to our everyday living, focusing on areas such as our support and help for others, friendship, kindness, love, acting with fairness and justice and our relationship with and actions with regard to the non-human world.

In Living Humanism Part One, having set out the underlying thinking underpinning the guide, and having identified and put forward core and other guiding principles, this first part of the guide then considers the nature of, and the application of these principles, within the context of separate chapters focused on supporting others, our communities and societies; being fair and just; truthfulness, honest and integrity; our emotions and our use of rationality and reason; our pursuit of pleasure, happiness and fulfillment, as well as our relationship to resources, money and possessions.

The ideas and discussion in Living Humanism Part One are summarised and consolidated, together with ideas and discussion from part two of the guide, in the final chapter of Living Humanism Part Two.

Copyright © 2018 Philip Nathan

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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ISBN 978 1838596 231

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For Mum and Dad; And for my daughters.

Contents

One

Introduction

Two

Principles

Three

Two Core Principles

Four

Supporting Others and Working for Our Communities, Societies and Beyond

Five

Rationality, Reason, Emotions, and Personal Conduct

Six

Being Fair and Just

Seven

Being Honest, Truthful, Showing Integrity and Being Trustworthy

Eight

Pursuing Pleasure, Happiness, Fulfillment and Well-being – Reducing and Preventing Pain and Suffering

Nine

Resources, Money, Possessions and Things

Notes

One

Introduction

How we conduct ourselves in all aspects of our lives is crucial to our personal well-being and happiness, the well-being and happiness of others, and the well-being and happiness found in our communities, societies and beyond. This guide takes the goal of achieving such well-being and happiness as fundamental to our determination of our personal conduct, with the concept of our personal conduct seen as touching on all of our personal and individual actions. In this guide, seeking well-being for ourselves, for others and for our communities, societies and our broader humanity, together with seeking the reduction, avoidance and prevention of pain and suffering, are taken as core principles, which form the basis for determining all of our personal conduct and action. These core principles, put forward as guiding our personal conduct, are formally stated in chapter two of this guide, alongside more detailed principles.

This approach to the determination of our personal conduct is defined as a Humanist approach. Humanist approaches to life place humanity and our human experience at the centre of our thinking, beliefs and actions, and are concerned about, and focused on, our human well-being and happiness, our individual well-being and happiness, the well-being and happiness of all others, and the promotion of well-being and happiness in our communities, societies and broader humanity, including the happiness and well-being of future generations. Indeed, within Humanist thinking, within the Humanist life stance, such support and promotion of the well-being, fulfillment and happiness of ourselves and all others are central and fundamental, overlapping with, and standing together with, the goals of the reduction, avoidance, the prevention and indeed, where reasonable and possible, the elimination of pain and suffering. This Humanist approach incorporates a care and concern for our non-human world.

Having made these fundamental statements and assumptions and having set as goals the core principles of promoting well-being, and the reduction, avoidance and prevention of pain and suffering, this book provides detailed guidance focused on identifying the personal conduct and action that we need to adopt in order to meet these objectives.

In terms of the formulation of core principles underlying our personal conduct, while the seeking of both well-being and happiness are seen as worthy and worthwhile goals, only the notion of well-being is mentioned in the formal statement of core principles. The reason for this foregrounding of, and emphasis on well-being in the core principles is that, by definition, for this guide, the notion of well-being is considered to comprise that which benefits others and ourselves, incorporating that which makes ourselves and others better off in the range of ways in which that is possible, with these ways being inclusive of happiness as well as the promotion of our happiness and the happiness of others. Happiness itself is considered within this category of well-being as a transient (though sometimes long-lasting), internally determined, emotional and mental state. Thus it is considered as one element of well-being, an important element of well-being, but with our well-being also being influenced by other factors such as health, income, education, and much more, all of which can, though which will not necessarily, support our feelings of happiness. The multifaceted nature of well-being and its connection to much more than what may be our important but transient feelings of happiness, means that, for this guide, well-being is seen as comprising a more appropriate and broader goal for our personal conduct, which nevertheless, does incorporate the important and highly worthwhile goal of achieving happiness, and state of happiness.

Such definitions and characterisation of well-being and happiness having been set forward here, nevertheless, given our common everyday more frequent spoken (and written) use of the term happiness rather than the term well-being; given the fact that the terms happiness and well-being are often used colloquially and otherwise as, in essence, equivalent terms; given the complex interrelationship between happiness and well-being; and furthermore, given that happiness is a highly desirable and worthwhile goal, happiness being a desirable and worthwhile emotional state for us to achieve and representing in itself an important component of well-being, then, consequentially for this guide, as well as happiness being considered as implicitly present as a component element when referring to the overall concept of well-being, through the guide, the use of the term happiness in relation to the discussion about and the consideration of our personal conduct, frequently partners the use of the term well-being.

The approach presented to personal conduct in this guide and the goals of this conduct, when linked to the reality of our daily lives, in relation to both our individual and more social selves, mean that each of our daily actions must be aimed at supporting and promoting such well-being and happiness. Acting in such a manner through our everyday lives serves to support not just ourselves, but all others, our support of others being recognised in this guide as frequently serving to support our own more individual and more personal well-being. Similarly, moreover, it is seen as often the case that our actions which focus on supporting our own personal well-being, can also support both others and the greater well-being of our communities, societies and our broader humanity. The intended consequence of this support and promotion of well-being, as set out in this guide, both for ourselves and others, is the achievement of that well-being, happiness and fulfillment for ourselves, and for all others, a well-being which incorporates and entails the reduction, avoidance, prevention, and where practically attainable and desirable, the already mentioned elimination of pain and suffering.

It is clear, given our social existence and our social nature as human beings, that every action we take, each aspect and element of our personal conduct in our individual daily lives, influences not only our own more personal well-being and happiness, but also the well-being and happiness of others, our social communities and societies, both local and beyond. This social nature is core to our human selves. It is part of each of our individual human identities and natures that, not only do we exist as separate individuals, but that we live together in families, communities and societies with others, our sharing the world, our own personal worlds, with others.

It is further clear that through this understanding and recognition of both our individual and social nature we will, and indeed should and must, support not only our own more individual well-being and happiness, by matter of definition aiming to benefit ourselves through our enhanced well-being and happiness, but we must also support others. In pursuit of these goals, we are not only motivated by our core individual and social human identities, but in addition by our more conscious recognition of our social human nature, this embodying our human need and desire to support others. Added to this, our support for our own personal well-being and the well-being of others will itself be supported through our conscious recognition of the fact that, not only do our own individual personal conduct and actions serve to support ourselves and our own well-being as individuals, but they also underpin the levels of well-being in our communities, societies and broader humanity.

This guide further assumes and accepts that, as individuals, whatever the influences on us from society, our personal histories, or other factors, we are individually responsible for our individual worlds and the social worlds around us, for the way we live as individuals, community and society, for our personal conduct and the actions we take, for the thoughts we have and for the things we do. And therefore we, as individuals, are responsible, within the constraints of our personal and human limitations, not only for our own well-being, fulfillment and happiness, but also for the well-being, fulfillment and happiness of others.

While such a level of responsibility might seem a great responsibility to take upon ourselves, indeed a somewhat, if not extremely heavy burden, yet this responsibility is seen as lying with all other individuals too. Placing this responsibility on ourselves as individuals, on each one of us as an individual, means that responsibility is being placed where it should lie, and needs to lie, if our worthy and desirable goals of well-being, fulfillment and happiness are to be achieved – that is again, to reiterate, within this guide, responsibility for our actions, for our personal conduct and for the world around us, lies with each one of us, as individuals.

In order to support the goals of well-being, fulfillment and happiness, this guide formally sets out principles upon which each of us, as individuals, can and indeed should base our personal conduct. The guide includes within this list of principles, two core principles, setting out the key goals already stated, those of promoting and supporting well-being, and reducing, avoiding and preventing pain and suffering, for ourselves and others, these being the goals which overall, define and determine our personal conduct. The guide further presents more specific recommended conduct aimed at the achievement of our individual and social well-being and happiness. Incorporated within and closely related to such well-being, this guide advocates specific conduct aimed at the reduction, avoidance and prevention of pain and suffering.

Beyond the category of the core principles already described, the principles of conduct presented are divided into categories of additional fundamental principles, more specific principles, and further additional and related principles. This categorisation is made largely on the basis of what is considered to be the centrality of each particular principle in relation to our personal conduct. However that is not to say that those principles considered either as additional fundamental, more specific or further additional and related, cannot be seen as being of greater importance, priority or indeed of greater centrality and importance than those in another initially occurring or apparently supervening category.

Principles of conduct and action suggested include not only ways of conducting ourselves and acting in our relations with others, such as caring for and respecting others as individuals, but also include forms of conduct and action tied to those aspects of our more personal daily behaviour which may not so closely, obviously, immediately and directly involve others. Such principles of conduct and action include those connected to maintaining and improving our personal physical and mental health as well as focusing on our personal learning and education. While these more personally and individually focused principles might appear, to a greater extent, to directly relate to our more individual actions conduct and behaviour and might be seen as more directly tied to our personal and more directly individual well-being, these principles are also seen as supporting and underpinning our personal conduct, behaviour and actions towards others. For example, if we have good physical and mental health and personal fitness, we are undoubtedly in a better position to conduct ourselves appropriately and will have enhanced capacity to contribute in a more positive and consistent fashion to others, to our communities and societies and to the world around us. And similarly, through learning and education, perhaps for ourselves, perhaps to an important extent, aimed at improving our own life chances, we are also better able to contribute to others and more effectively determine our appropriate personal conduct and behaviour.

The principles presented in this guide are seen as founded in the reality of our human lives, our fundamental human character and indeed our fundamental natures, our needs and desires as individuals. They are born in our nature, needs and desires as the both individual and social human beings that we are, and born in the needs of others, our communities, societies, our broader humanity, whom and which support us in achieving our individual needs and desires, as well as supporting us in achieving our individual well-being. And, seen as arising from our individual and social identities, in regard to our individual needs and the needs of others, our societies, communities and broader humanity, it is recognised that our more individual and social needs interact with each other. Thus, the achievement of our individual needs and wants benefits from functioning, effective, supportive, secure and safe communities, societies and beyond, with those functioning, effective and supportive communities and societies benefiting directly from our own individual supportive conduct and actions as individuals, and with others, our communities and societies, as well as our broader humanity, also benefiting from the fact of ourselves and other community and society members living in a positive state of well-being.

The principles presented in this guide are considered practical and relevant to, as well as embedded in, the reality of our real and everyday lives, representing ways of conducting ourselves that can be applied to our actions and decisions on an everyday basis. These principles are proposed in order to support and guide us in our personal conduct and our actions as we set out and act to achieve our more directly personal goals, our needs and desires, and as we aim to achieve those of our goals and actions that are more heavily based in supporting our communities, societies and the world beyond. The principles also present guidance with regard to our more general approaches to our personal conduct and actions, as well as with regard to the more specific individual situations we face.

While directly aiming to support our pleasure and well-being moment-to-moment, it is considered, intended and hoped that the appropriate application of the principles should support us in proactively preempting, forestalling and preventing a range of difficulties from arising in our lives, preventing us from pain and suffering or reducing the level of pain and suffering in our lives. Through supporting us in adopting appropriate ways of conducting ourselves, through helping us to identify and adopt strategies and actions for tackling and dealing with such difficulties and problems prior to and when we encounter them in our lives, it should hopefully be easier to avoid, reduce the stress and pain of, or resolve, many of the life challenges we face, in a manner that is both supportive of our own individual well-being and the well-being of others.

The term ‘guide’ is used with deliberation. While core principles are seen as essential and universal, applicable to all and fundamental in underpinning actions in probably all situations, this guide recognises that, given the real complexity of our everyday lives, there is a need to decide our precise courses of action taking into account and in the light of, not only our personal nature and characteristics, but in particular, in regard to the specific circumstances, contexts and situations in which we find ourselves. This is seen as reflecting the reality of the lives we live, with our lives and our worlds being intricate, individual, complex and changing in nature, being lives in which we meet a vast range of varying situations, with varying situational influences, which include and involve a varying and vast range of differing individual people, and which also vary in terms of our changing selves, our various personal specific and differing goals and interests in each situation as well as the differing goals of others.

Moreover, the varied situations we find ourselves in, also involve complex and ongoing individual interactions and sequences of interactions between ourselves and others, and between others, sequences to which we will generally need to respond appropriately. Not only will our decisions in regard to our specific conduct need to take into account the range of individual and specific situations that are changing and variable in an ongoing manner, but our successful operation, our successful conduct and actions in support of well-being and happiness, will need to be effective and successful in the context of differing cultures, family, local, institutional, societal and beyond. All of these factors will, and should, be influencing the way we think and conduct ourselves in our varying situations and contexts.

As a consequence of the recognition of this variability in the contexts, situations and circumstances we face, this guide therefore recognises that our world is, thus, the type of complex, complicated and intricate place in which overly rigid inflexible, unbending rules of conduct can be very difficult, if not impossible to apply. So while core principles are considered fundamental and other principles presented are considered of utility, value and importance if not essential, it is considered here, beyond the level of broad principles, in regard to our specific actions in specific circumstances, that the following of unbending and proscriptive rules, our acting and conducting ourselves in an inflexible rigid, overly specific rule-based manner, unchanging irrespective of circumstances can, whether intended or not, result in our taking damaging and wrong courses of action, action both damaging to ourselves and others. Thus while core principles in particular and other principles are seen as in the vast majority of circumstances and situations needing to be put into practice, the individual variation in the people, overall contexts, situations and circumstances we encounter, are considered to make absolute prescription of actions for all circumstances inadvisable and inappropriate, and, as a consequence, make guidance and guidelines much more suitable than sets of inflexible rules.

Reflecting this same notion of variability, we have to also recognise the historical reality that not only does the most appropriate conduct vary situationally, but that ideas of appropriate conduct vary, have varied over time and so undoubtedly will vary in the future, through the longer passage of time, with, for example, generations past, as far as we can determine, at least to some extent, expressing different values and different notions of appropriate conduct from generations (and cultures) present. Guidelines and principles allow room for interpretation, discussion and change in search of the core goals of supporting well-being. They enable and allow our understandings to change and develop, as circumstances and situations change, as we as people change, as cultures change, as generations change. Fundamentally, and additionally, these particular guidelines and principles also support and enable such change through laying responsibility for our thoughts, beliefs and actions with each of us, as capable, independent, autonomous individuals responsible for our own actions and taking responsibility for those actions.

Nevertheless, despite the complexity of our world and worlds, and the variability in people, circumstances and situations, if adopted in large part or through adoption of fundamental components, it is considered that the core and other principles presented should be of significant value and beneficial in promoting well-being, fulfillment and happiness, representing and enabling positive, constructive and successful forms of personal conduct, helping us as individuals to live happier lives, which are more likely to be comprised of the fulfillment, enjoyment, health, pleasure and happiness, all components of well-being, which we seek, and which are seen within this guide as worthy goals. The forms of conduct put forward are also aimed at supporting communities and societies, as well as more global organisations, such that they act effectively to support the well-being and happiness of not only ourselves as individuals as their constituent members, but of all people, irrespective of which component communities and societies we as individuals may be considered to be part of, or that we may originate from.

The principles presented in this guide are also seen as universal in application, applying to each of us as individuals, in all communities, in all nations, in all cultures, throughout our human society. Each of us, as an individual, is considered to possess, in broad terms, to an important extent, a common humanity, common characteristics and common human traits, common wants and needs, as well as a core and common human value, these all being fundamental to our nature and identity as human beings. This notion of a common humanity and common fundamental human value, is taken as central to this guide, and is seen as central to a humanist approach to living. This common humanity and our fundamental common human value, is represented and realised in many ways through the principles presented in this guide.

Thus, common to all of us, we wish for well-being and wish to enjoy happiness, pleasure and fulfillment. We all, as individuals, whatever our background, are interested in our own personal well-being, happiness and fulfillment and the well-being, happiness and fulfillment of others. And further we require the well-being, fulfillment and happiness of others in order to support our own personal well-being, happiness and fulfillment. Not only does our concern for our own well-being mean that we must be concerned with the well-being of others, our communities and societies, but our social nature as human beings means that we are all concerned with the well-being of others per se.

Common to our humanity, to our individual identities, almost no one wishes for, desires or enjoys pain and suffering, nor do we desire such suffering for others, the existence of pain and suffering, wherever they are found, being in itself painful and unwanted, such pain and suffering sometimes, if not often, being horrendous in its nature and consequence. The presence of such intense pain and suffering serves to damage us all as individuals, both directly in physical and emotional terms if we are the sufferers experiencing the pain, but also damaging us through the knowing of, and through the consequences of, its damage to those other individuals who may suffer such pain. Moreover, such pain and suffering damages us all through undermining the communities and societies, and the wider world in which we live.

Thus, considering our common humanity, our common fundamental human value, the core and other principles presented in this guide are seen as applying to each one of us, whatever our origins, background, beliefs, history, context and culture. The core principles, the additional fundamental principles, the more specific principles, the additional and other related principles of conduct, apply to us all and the well-being of all individuals, all communities and all societies, is seen as supported by the conduct stated in, and leading from, the principles presented in this guide. Different personalities, different family origins, differing backgrounds, experiences, educations, histories and cultures can clearly influence how and what we think and who we are, as well as how we act. Nevertheless, the principles presented in this guide are considered universal.

In terms of linguistic expression, the principles in this guide are presented using the form of the imperative, a language form that here is used in terms of its role in communicating the idea of firm guidance, suggestion and recommendation, but which can and is, often used for giving commands and orders. It is essential that we recognise that the principles in this guide are in no sense commands or orders and that these principles should not be interpreted or used in such a manner. The notions of command and order embody, in themselves, the taking over or handing over of responsibility for the choice of our personal conduct and the course of the actions we take, to others. They suggest the notion of obeying others, something which is fundamentally contrary to the core and other principles set out in this guide.

As stated already, the principles presented here instead represent guidelines, providing firm suggestions and recommendations, which, it is envisaged, will be engaged with, considered, discussed, and hopefully adopted. However, with the principles in themselves stating and recognising that our beliefs and actions are our personal responsibility, with the recognition of the influence of varying contexts in determining our personal conduct and actions, and with the recognition of changing values and beliefs through the paths of history and likely into the future, it follows that modification, change and even rejection of these principles and the resultant actions are seen as being within the remit of our individual judgment and decision. That being said, operating outside of core principles, and refusing to accept a level of personal responsibility does mean operating outside of the framework presented in this guide.

Additionally in terms of the interpretation of the text, it is important to recognise and understand that the communication and interpretation of multifaceted and complex realities, ideas, judgments, and meanings, in most, if not all cases, cannot be fully realised through expression of and interpretation of single clauses or sentences. With regard to each area of personal conduct and action covered in this guide, with regard to all principles put forward in this guide, their full expression, the full interpretation of what is stated and advocated, the full statement of what is intended and meant by the writer, must be seen in the context of the sum and combination of meanings expressed and interpreted in the guide, rather than solely through such single clauses and sentences.

Thus, for example, while the first More Specific Principle, stated in chapter two, argues that we should act with honesty and integrity in our lives, this does not mean that in all cases we must act by stating the truth, there being very important and necessary, though hopefully infrequent, exceptions to, in particular our being ‘honest’, in situations and circumstances where the making of inaccurate and untruthful statements is considered essential in support of well-being and in support of the avoidance of pain and suffering. In regard to this principle, the underlining paragraph explicating this principle in chapter two, together with the lengthy discussion through the entirety of chapter seven, in addition to comments elsewhere in the guide, present, discuss and elucidate the relevant issues at greater and more substantive length, and, of necessity, in much greater detail than could be captured in a single clause or sentence. And this requirement to consider through the text, the combination of differing, though hopefully consistent but detailing statements in regard to our personal conduct and action, applies to all issues covered in this guide. The more brief initial statements of principles in chapter two summarise and outline these principles which are put forward as guides to our conduct and actions, but the discussion of and detailing of these through the guide is necessary to gain a full interpretation and full picture of their meaning in terms of the complex realities of our lives.

‘Well-being’ is used as the central term in regard to the key goal of the principles presented, being explicitly referred to in the two core principles. Already referred to in relation to happiness, itself seen as both part of and also separate from well-being, the important notion of fulfillment and related elements such as contentment, enjoyment, satisfaction, joy, fun and pleasure are of great value, and experiencing all of these can be seen as supporting well-being. They are, indeed, worthy components of well-being, worth pursuing in themselves. Yet well-being also consists of more tangible material elements such as, for example, having sufficient food and clean water, a suitable and pleasant home, good health, freedoms of personal expression, positive relationships, access to learning and education, the opportunity for self-development and change, freedom to be with those we wish to be with. It requires a peaceful life within which, of course, there is an absence of oppression and violence, and in which we receive respect and are valued by others, in which we can express our love for, give to and contribute to the well-being of others, amongst other things. All of these and more are considered worthy and valuable goals in this guide, forming constituent elements of the broader term and notion, our broader experience of well-being.

The principles presented in this guide can be applied in a number of different ways. In support of the application of these principles on a day-to-day basis we can directly, and consciously and explicitly, examine and reference these principles on the moment in helping us to determine our everyday conduct and in supporting our decision-making. Many of our responses day-to-day, however, are more automatic in nature, based in our experiences and our learned patterns of conduct and action. So these principles are seen as also usefully applied in our learning and educational contexts prior to the time of our decision and action, being used as a preparatory, anticipatory framework for helping us in determining our patterns of beliefs about and approaches to, our personal conduct, and supporting our determination of our conduct on the moment and into the future. Linked to this, the principles provide potential criteria and a potential framework for personal reflection on our actions once our actions have been taken, representing principles of conduct through which we can evaluate our own personal conduct and modify or change that conduct into the future if necessary.

Such reflection on and evaluation of, our actions and conduct by each of us as individuals, is necessary for us to maintain and develop the effectiveness of our actions and conduct. However, in line with the principles themselves, there also needs to be evaluation by each of us of the veracity and usefulness of the principles presented in this guide and their operation and implementation for each one of us and for us all in general. In particular, in line with what has been stated in regard to our personal responsibility, it is anticipated that the guide in itself and the principles presented should be considered evaluatively and critically, finding value where appropriate, and finding more negative criticisms in principles and application where these are considered to be deserved. Moreover the principles and their embedded and consequent conduct, if believed to be of value, should be read and applied practically and constructively. If the core and other principles are accepted or considered reasonable, these principles should be applied and used as a framework in our daily lives in order to help us in determining our actions and conduct, establishing our personal principles of conduct, and informing our own personal conduct and actions on the moment and into the future, this being done in a manner allied to our continuous reflection and evaluation.

Our evaluations need as far as possible to be based in reason, logic, rationality and evidence. The evidence that underpins our evaluations and beliefs may be gained from a range of sources including from our more individual and personal experience and actions. Yet of course this more individual and personal experience, though central to our own lives and the actions and conduct we adopt in the specific situations and circumstances we encounter, in comparison to the sum of experience of all others, cannot be as extensive as we would like. Indeed our individual, personal experience cannot be as extensive as we in fact need, in order to support us in consistently making optimal decisions about our personal conduct, even though sometimes our more individual personal experience may be the main source that we have at our disposal to support our judgments.

Thus, considering both the importance and value, and the limitations of our individual and personal experience, wherever reasonable and possible, wherever we can, we need to take account of and have regard to the knowledge, experiences, understandings and evidence deriving from the lives of others, knowledge, experience, understandings and evidence that we may actively seek out, or that we may be told about directly and unsought. Such knowledge, understandings, experience and evidence may be encountered through the people we know, through friends and family, through teachers and coaches, or through the many other forms of communication that may be available to us, including the vast range of books and guides that we might have or be able to gain access to. Within the context of the different sources of information available, we also need, in particular, to take strong account of the more formal and systematic investigations and research conducted, encompassing the range of knowledge, understanding, evidence and experiences. These investigations and this research should serve to inform and underpin both our self-understanding and understanding of others and the world around us, as well as informing our effective personal conduct and actions in support of well-being and happiness.

It is hoped that the ideas and principles in this guide justify themselves not only in their own terms, but also in terms of supporting the lives we lead and wish to lead as individuals, as families, communities and societies, as a broader humanity, maintaining and enhancing our well-being, happiness and fulfillment. If what is presented is evaluated, if principles are practised and found to need adjustment, then these principles need to be adjusted, modified or changed. If found wanting in the light of experience and other evidence, then they must be modified, developed or set aside.

Not only must we look at the principles themselves and their application in a critical and evaluative manner, with our modifying principles and our personal conduct where necessary, but we must also recognise the fallibilities of our own real selves, our own flaws and imperfections, our daily reality as fallible individual human beings. And further, recognising these flaws and imperfections, we are bound, indeed we are obliged, to seek change in ourselves, as far as we can, in the light of our experiences, through our encounters with others, through our successes, achievements, our difficulties and our challenges. Having such a reasonable, reflective and realistic view of ourselves is essential, with such a view having the potential to enable us to also have realistic and reasonable expectations of others, something which benefits our own well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of others.

As already alluded to, consistent with the use of this guide as a pre-emptive, preparatory framework for determining our approaches and actions, the principles presented here may be considered as a potential source of information and ideas for parents, families and the formal educators of our children, supporting the teaching of appropriate conduct, actions and behaviour, and setting expectations of our children in regard to their conduct both as children and in their later lives as adults within our community and our societies, as well as in their role as members of our broader humanity. In terms of teaching, whether by ourselves as parents, as other adults in the family or community, or as professional teachers of our children, the guide is considered likely to be of value for a range of reasons, particularly because, not only are core and other principles set out to guide our personal conduct in the daily living that is relevant to all of us and relevant to all of our children, but the core principles in themselves underpin and provide a rationale for the other principles and conduct that are presented.

In regard to the education of our children and in regard to learning by our children, since appropriate individual conduct is essential to the well-being of each of us as individuals, to our communities, to the whole of society, to the well-being of all, it makes sense, through the channel of those influential in formal education and indeed through those of us acting as parents and others in our families, as well as for all of us within our communities, our broader communities, to provide our children with a framework of guidelines to support their personal conduct and well-being, a moral and reasoned framework that has the potential to not only support their well-being and happiness through their lives, but that will also support the communities and societies that they live in, and all others living in those communities and societies, as well as supporting our broader humanity.

Nevertheless, as part of this educational process, hopefully at all ages, even at early ages, though certainly considered and presented in an age dependent manner, as already intimated with regard to adult conduct, the nature of these guidelines and principles must be open to challenge and discussion amongst those encountering them within educational and other contexts, with personal and individual interpretation as well as consideration of alternative approaches which support ourselves and others, being valued. This will support the process of individual learning and development, as well as being an approach that itself is consistent with and embodied in the principles of personal responsibility, autonomy, independence and individual freedom, accounted for within the principles. As our children grow, they may well wish to challenge, and indeed perhaps should challenge the orthodoxies that those of us who are older may promote, and which we have chosen to accept. Regarding such challenges, where they are not challenges for the sake of challenge, indeed perhaps, even when they are simply challenges for the sake of challenge, in particular where these challenges are supported by and based in experience, reason and evidence, the making of such challenges is likely to benefit us all.

The core and other principles presented in this guide can also be seen as representing community and societal expectations of conduct of all individuals within our societies, as well as representing expectations of how our organisations, institutions, communities, societies and broader humanity should conduct themselves. In terms of our more individual conduct, as an example, the principle that we should take care of the non-human world is relevant to all of us as individuals in terms of our personal conduct and the well-being of ourselves and others. Not only can our individual conduct in relation to our care for the non-human environment act as one measure for each of us when we are evaluating how we are personally conducting ourselves, but also in regard to evaluation of our conduct, it can be seen as representing a parameter for setting standards for and evaluating how others, how our communities and societies, view our own personal conduct in terms of this environmental aspect of our human well-being and happiness. And further, the principles in relation to our behaviour towards looking after the non-human environment can also be used as a basis on which we can evaluate the actions and conduct of our organisations, communities, societies and our broader humanity.

In the case of someone, an organisation or other social entity engaging in implementing significant damage to the non-human world in a manner that was also inconsistent with other principles, this would mean that that individual or entity would not be fulfilling an important moral principle, an important principle of personal and social conduct. In such a case such an individual, group or other social entity, will be likely to be damaging their own well-being in the longer term and would almost certainly be damaging the well-being of others, our communities, societies and to some extent, dependent on circumstances, perhaps our broader humanity, with damage being done probably both in the shorter and longer term. That of course would be unacceptable to us as individuals, to our communities, societies, to our broader humanity, and in these capacities we would need to take action to prevent such significant damage in order to support our own well-being and the well-being of others, in order to reduce and prevent pain and suffering.

Thus, the principles presented in this guide are seen as being useful and valuable in setting out, or indeed representing in themselves, common values and principles for all of our communities, societies and our broader humanity, these communities, societies and our broader humanity incorporating a vast range of different individuals, with many different views, differing thinking, with many different backgrounds, arising from different origins, beliefs, and differing societal, local and family cultures. Having such acknowledged, socially and commonly accepted statements of personal and social conduct, having common expectations of personal conduct, enables us to orient ourselves such that we are better able to cooperate together, better understand each other, and have reasonable and appropriate expectations of each other. Such shared expectations of actions, conduct and behaviour enable us to live together as individuals in mutually accepting and cooperative families, communities and societies, as a mutually accepting humanity, as a consequence supporting our own well-being, happiness and fulfillment and the well-being, happiness and fulfillment of all others.

Not all of our more immediate human wants and desires, not all of our human instincts and inclinations, influencing or leading to our various forms of personal conduct and individual actions, are likely to be consistent with the principles set out in this guide. There are wants and desires we have that will mitigate against, if not act, in some cases, entirely against and, indeed, will be destructive of our personal well-being and happiness, and the well-being and happiness of others and that may also be destructive of our various social organisations and entities. For example vengeful conduct, the anger-fuelled desire for revenge which is, on occasions, felt by some, if not many, is a clear example of conduct and behaviour that is highly destructive in a whole host of ways, being destructive to the vengeful individual, the victim of such vengeful conduct and to our communities, societies, as well as the wider world beyond. Identification of our key goals and objectives of well-being, happiness, fulfillment and the avoidance of pain and suffering through the core and other principles should support us in identifying those unhelpful, damaging and more destructive aspects of our human conduct and behaviour, such as vengeful conduct, and serve to reduce their effects or hopefully prevent such conduct from occurring.

Further to the recognition of the effects of these more instinctive of our behaviours and desires, while the core and other principles can help us to determine our conduct and action in a manner which benefits ourselves and others, it is certainly the case that in an ongoing manner, our individual conduct and behaviour, our personal and social conduct, our personal beliefs and outlooks, will need to be determined in the face of, and will be affected by the many influences deriving from our personal and social environments. These influences can arise from factors and circumstances present on the moment, but can also arise from historical influences including, in particular, our personal histories and our experiences of our own personal conduct and their consequences; we will most likely be influenced by the experiences of others around us, by our upbringing in our families (in particular our parents and carers), the influence of friends, the range of our experiences in growing up, the values and beliefs of the communities and societies around us and other aspects of the cultures in which we grow.

And of course we will also be affected in our conduct by factors comprising elements of our individual human psychology and by elements of social psychology, with these influences sometimes, if not often, involving our being influenced by sub-conscious beliefs and behaviours that we are not even aware of on the moment. We need to learn about and develop an awareness of ourselves and those subconscious and below consciousness beliefs; we need to know ourselves well enough and indeed understand others well enough, such that we can conduct ourselves in an optimal manner in line with core and other principles, in a manner which supports well-being and happiness for ourselves and others. Further with regard to other and perhaps overlapping influences on our personal conduct, there is a significant likelihood, if not a certainty, that there will be elements of biological and genetic influences on us as individuals that will influence and affect our personal conduct, which in some cases will enhance our pursuit of well-being and happiness, but in other cases, may push us towards damaging conduct causing pain and suffering.

Thus, since some of these influences may not influence our conduct in directions that are consistent with, and are not grounded in, core and other principles, it would seem certain that, if we are to prioritise the pursuit of our own well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of others, we will need to act against and reduce the effect of such damaging influences, making changes, perhaps deep changes within ourselves where this is possible. Recognising these influences, recognising that some of our wants and desires and more instinctual behaviour may lead us to damage ourselves and others, the fact of our having and being aware of a framework of core and other principles as presented in this guide should help to support us in searching for understanding of those influencing factors, should support us in acting to mitigate the effects of these influences, and should support us in acting to reduce or prevent the damage they might cause.

Acting in pursuit of our own well-being and the well-being of others, acting and thinking in line with core and other principles, should thereby encourage us to seek, and help serve to give us, some personal individual and indeed social insights through which we can gain more knowledge about and gain greater understanding of ourselves and our personal conduct, developing our self-awareness more thoroughly and deeply, enabling us to better monitor, control and where appropriate modify and change our conduct such that it serves to support well-being and happiness.

From the knowledge and perhaps acceptance of these principles, we can not only help ourselves to make more correct and accurate decisions in regard to our personal conduct, decisions that benefit both ourselves and others, but we can be supported in educating ourselves about who we are, our personal relationship to the world and to others, such that we and others can enjoy greater well-being and happiness, through that more effective and improved personal, individual action and conduct. A knowledge and acceptance of such core and other principles should also help to support us through irrational or indeed rational self doubt, self-criticism and self-recriminations in regard to ourselves and our rational and irrational concerns, criticisms and doubts in regard to others, amongst other things helping us to plot paths into the future in terms of our conduct when we are seeking to achieve our goals, or in other cases, when we have misjudged our personal conduct, which has fallen short of that which we would hope and expect to achieve.

Changes in ourselves, our attitudes and approaches, our conduct and behaviour are indeed possible. While we may be significantly influenced by or substantially learn our patterns of conduct and behaviour from our upbringing, our parents, guardians, from our families, from our peers, from our situated cultures, at our schools, at work, and we may sometimes, without conscious intention or awareness of that intention, assimilate, learn and adopt the values and beliefs of others around us, we are also capable of, and indeed have at a personal and individual level a strong tendency to question the world around us, to question ourselves, to assess, evaluate and reflect on the world around us, the behaviours and conduct of others, and as a consequence learn and determine our behaviour from experience, from encounters in the real world and from our perceptions of, and the consequences of the actions we take.

Capable of such reflection and learning from experience, we as individuals, can therefore pursue required changes in ourselves, adapting, growing and learning in the range of ways through which we can improve our own personal conduct and through which we can more effectively support our own well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of others. We can, and indeed as a matter of course, we need to, dedicate ourselves to, and be open to, learning and development in terms of all areas, not only developing our knowledge, understandings, our perceptions and capacities to perceive, our technical skills and more, but we must be open to changing our minds, changing our beliefs, changing our thinking and changing our conduct where this is justified based on the experiences we have, based on amongst other things our thought, experience, reflection, reason, sense, logic, our actions and the evidence we encounter in the world around us.

Thus, despite the already mentioned factors influencing our conduct, the reality is that, as human individuals, in pursuit of well-being and happiness, and supporting the avoidance of pain and suffering, we have the capability of being, and indeed we are required to be, learning beings, in terms of our conduct and behaviour, with our being capable of achieving modification of our beliefs, actions and behaviour, capable of becoming different from how we are now, capable of change, development and improvement in the light of our learning and experience, in the light of the ideas of others, through observing the lives of others, listening to the advice of others, their suggestions, their reasons, their experiences. In a sense we must be capable of becoming somewhat new and somewhat different people, changing our minds, reflecting on our actions and making different and better choices in the future. And importantly it is valuable and indeed perhaps an essential element of our lives that we, to some extent, experiment with and try out new ways of conducting ourselves, in some cases, that we invent new ways of doing things, and as a consequence change ourselves and develop for the better.

To many of us such personal development and change may seem challenging, and indeed the prospect of change and indeed, changing what we do and how we think and perhaps also feel, can seem intimidating and worrying. Nevertheless, the fact is that whatever our background or circumstances, though there may seem to be, and there are sometimes, if not often, constraints and difficulties, we are, in the main, capable of change and more than capable of improving and developing our conduct, where necessary, in a manner supportive of well-being and happiness. And in circumstances where our conduct is not, or has not been, as appropriate and correct as we would wish it to be, we are also more than capable of applying core and other principles and where necessary choosing differently in terms of our conduct compared to the ways we have chosen in the past. Thus we are more than capable of acting differently and conducting ourselves differently, and this is certainly the case if we allow ourselves to listen and learn, where this is required, and if we resolve to find ways to change for the better. This guide provides principles that we can consider, learn, adopt and practise (if not currently practised) in our daily lives, with a view to benefiting the well-being of both ourselves, our communities, societies and our broader humanity, to the maximum.

Beyond the already mentioned challenges of achieving correct decisions and optimal conduct, due to the variety of complex situations and circumstances we find ourselves in, achieving appropriate and effective personal conduct is also complicated in some, if not many circumstances, and situations, to varying degrees, by the fact that our actions, our conduct, our decisions, the things that we say, are vast in number, and we need to make decisions about many different things. And our decisions are sometimes, if not frequently, required rapidly in succession, moment to moment, often in situations and circumstances where right decisions, the right actions, the right words, may be needed in an ongoing and immediate manner, requiring us to make on the spot, rapid judgments, for example in order to maintain, build or not damage a relationship, or more generally to act appropriately, in order to support our own well-being and the well-being of others.

And relating to the sequences of choices and decisions we need and are required to make, once we have acted, once we have spoken, once we have made our decisions, then our own conduct and behaviour will likely lead to immediate and, in some respects, somewhat unique individual responses from others, with those consequent responses requiring subsequent somewhat unique verbal responses, actions, and additional accurate decisions and words from us. In all the complexity of life, with the multiple decisions and responses required of us, it is certainly challenging to get most things right, and it is certainly difficult, if not impossible, to get everything right all the time with all people, or even to get things right for much of the time with many people. And it is highly likely that we will not achieve the total perfection we may seek and might wish for, even with the greatest of thought and the best of intentions.

Of course, as already referred to, we do have more automatic systems of thinking available for dealing with many of these immediate and rapidly required decisions. Yet we need to do what we can to ensure that these systems operate to support well-being. We can certainly work intelligently, rationally, and do our utmost to ensure our decisions are the correct ones, taking effort and care, doing our best, making amends, apologising and expressing regret where we get things wrong, as well as engaging in learning and thinking, focusing on our personal development and change such that we adapt, modify, develop and improve our conduct into the future. In these ways we will be supporting our own well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of others.

Having set out what are considered to be some important aspects of the guide and some important ideas underpinning our personal conduct and action, in particular having identified the core principles presented in this guide, and a brief, initial rationale for their adoption, the structure and content of this guide is now overviewed along with a description of the more detailed topics and areas that will be covered.

With regard therefore to the more detailed contents of this book, in chapter two, following this introduction, the core and other principles are set out. The two core principles, which serve to underpin the other principles in the guide, are first stated with a brief explanation and justification provided for each core principle. A further seven fundamental principles considered to be of central importance to effective personal conduct are then provided, followed by a further seventeen more specific principles, and a further twenty-six additional and related principles. A sometimes brief, sometimes longer paragraph, or several paragraphs in some cases, describe in summary the nature of each of these principles, which are then, on the whole, through the guide, more often implicitly, but on occasion explicitly, used to underpin the content of the topic-focused chapters in the guide. That is to say, that with regard to all principles stated in chapter two, with the exception of the two core principles, which orient the whole of the guide, these other principles, while sometimes drawn attention to, are not, for the most part, repeatedly reiterated and explicitly referred back to, through the text, though they serve to underpin the range of chapters.

Having established the core and other principles, the guide then moves on to look at specific fundamental, key areas and issues in relation to our personal conduct and stemming from these principles. Chapter three focuses on the justification for, the nature of and the implementation of the first two core principles, with this chapter including a focus on the importance of pursuing well-being and the reduction, the avoidance and prevention of pain and suffering, as well as discussing in detail what these principles mean and their more specific consequences for the decisions we make in terms of our real everyday lives, and in terms of our personal conduct and actions.

Chapter four focuses on the more specific area of conduct in relation to supporting others, our communities and societies as well as our broader humanity, again focusing on the need for such support and the implementation, the what and how of such support, in order to enhance, and ensure as far as we can, our own well-being and the well-being of others. Chapter five focuses on the need for a rational, evidence-based approach to our thinking and action in the range of situations we encounter and with regard to the range of decisions we have to make, and emphasises the value of thought, rationality, reason, logic and evidence in reaching our decisions and determining our actions. However, this chapter also includes consideration of our more instinctive, immediate and more automatic inclinations, decisions, and furthermore emphasises the role of our feelings, our emotions, the value and importance of these and how these influence us, with these emotions and feelings identified in themselves as being important motivators for our determining our actions, representing elements key to well-being and happiness in themselves, and being seen as essential and core to assisting us in defining and achieving well-being. Chapter six looks at the importance of our pursuing fairness and justice within our own personal lives and within our communities, societies and beyond, with fairness and justice both seen as contributing to, and indeed required as, essential elements of our own well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of all.

In chapter seven we discuss honesty, truth, trust and integrity as important parts of our personal conduct. The importance of these ideas of integrity, truthfulness, honesty and trustworthiness in terms of our personal conduct, and our attitudes of mind, are tied in to our pursuit of well-being and happiness. In particular, this chapter draws attention to the necessity of these ideas and practices in supporting the general and social well-being. In chapter eight we look at the pursuit of pleasure, happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment in our own lives