It refuses to accept the reduction of human motivation to economic terms , to sexual terms, to pleasure-seeking terms, or to any one limited set of human desires. It insists on the reality of genuine altruism as one of the moving forces in the affairs of human beings. Since we live during a time of nationalism run wild, of terrible world wars, of hate and misunderstanding between peoples and governments, I want to underscore at the start Humanism's goal of the welfare of all humankind . Though certain groups in certain countries have in the past put themselves beyond the pale of human decency, and though this could happen again, Humanism cannot tolerate discrimination against any people or nation as such. And it reaffirms the spirit of cosmopolitanism, of international friendship, and of the essential interconnectedness of humans.
Humanists feel compassionate concern for the entire human family throughout the globe.
Most of the individuals to whom he refers probably do not call themselves Humanists and may never have taken the trouble to find out to what precise school of philosophy they belong. It is important, however, that all those who actually are Humanists should come to recognize in the word Human ism the symbol of their central purpose in life, their community of interests and their sense of interconnectedness. This implies that those ideals shall be given a habitation and a name in some philosophy. This generalization was clearly meant to apply to human beings everywhere and not just to the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies . Accordingly, the famous document that launched the United States on its career as an independent nation makes a close approach to the cardinal Humanist doctrine that holds out the welfare of humanity at large as the final goal.