Life stance
A term for ultimate concern, encompassing religious and non-religious views.
A life stance, or lifestance, is a person's relation with what they accept as being of ultimate importance, involving presuppositions and commitment to exercise it in theory and practice. The term is a shared label encompassing both religious perspectives (e.g., Buddhist, Christian, Pagan) and non-religious spiritual or philosophical alternatives (e.g., humanist, personist, Deep Ecology), without discrimination in favor of any.
- coined_by
- Harry Stopes-Roe
- field
- Philosophy of religion, education
- known_for
- Developing the concept of life stance
- associated_organizations
- Rationalist Press Association, British Humanist Association, International Humanist and Ethical Union
Lore & Background
The neologism 'life stance' was coined in the mid-1970s by humanists interested in educational matters, with Harry Stopes-Roe of the Rationalist Press Association and British Humanist Association developing the concept. In the late 1980s, Stopes-Roe successfully campaigned for the term's adoption by the International Humanist and Ethical Union and other organizations, though it was not uncontroversial among humanists.
Reader's Guide
The term 'life stance' was introduced to establish a clear identity for Humanism and gain recognition and respect, aiming to describe what is good in both Humanism and religion without being encumbered by what is bad in religion. Stopes-Roe defined it as 'the style and content of an individual's or a community's relationship with that which is of ultimate importance; the presuppositions and commitments of this, and the consequences for living which flow from it.' The British Humanist Association later offered a more analytical definition based on jurisprudence related to 'religion or belief' in the European Convention on Human Rights. The term differs from worldview or belief system by emphasizing ultimate importance, and from eupraxsophy by including both theistic and non-theistic outlooks. Its orthography distinguishes a life stance (e.g., Humanism) from general support of a cause (e.g., humanism) by capitalization of the first letter, though not all life stances use this convention.
Did You Know?
- The term 'life stance' was coined in the mid-1970s by humanists interested in educational matters.
- The term was intended to be a shared label encompassing both religions and alternatives to religion without discrimination.
- Stopes-Roe hoped the term would end arguments among humanists about how to characterize their position.
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