The Humanist Society
The Social Blueprint for Self-Actualization
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Social scientists have always wanted to make their disciplines as rigorous as those of natural scientists. Their problem has always been that people are much harder to study than gravitational fields, geological deposits, chemical compounds, and so on. For one thing, there are both moral and legal limits on how far researchers can go in experimenting with people. This means that social scientists cannot use the standard scientific mechanism: replicating results in a laboratory and thus either verifying or falsifying their hypotheses (although scientists in some fields do not use that mechanism). Moreover, people are so complex and present so many variables that even statistical analyses are imprecise - or, at the very least, lead to imprecise conclusions about human behavior. My unified theory of motivation is an attempt to level the playing field, as it were, by identifying the many aspects of human behavior that are universal and therefore not variable (along with those that are). I call these non-variable aspects of human nature "constants" and add that each includes several "minor constants". The result is a description of human nature in the biological sense of that second word. My hope is not only to make a true science of psychology (and, by implication, other social sciences such as sociology, economics, and political science) but also to lay the foundation for a humanist society - which, by definition, is based on human nature in that same sense.
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About the Book
What accounts for the rise and fall of so many civilizations—especially when some of them held more political power than their rivals? Author Joseph Sassoon tackles this question and many others in this, his second volume on self-actualization. As a missionary for humanism, he explores the social conditions that are necessary for the greatest number of people to achieve self-actualization. In presenting his theories, he reviews the work of major thinkers, including Kurt Goldstein and his landmark book, Human Nature in the Light of Psychopathology; Charles Darwin; Buddha; and many others. Sassoon explores the answers to key questions: • What is society’s role in helping individuals move toward self-actualization? • What benefits would society enjoy if more people achieved their potential? • What are the main characteristics of a humanist code? • What can we do to promote humanist values? A third volume in this series will establish the conditions required to bring about a world federalism based on humanism. In a changing world with competing ideologies, it is more important than ever to establish the importance of humanist values. In this study, Sassoon describes a step-by-step social arrangement leading to self-actualization for the greatest number of people in society.
About the Author
Joseph Sassoon is married with two children and two grandchildren. He is also the author of Self Actualization: Theory and Technology. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Long Island University in New York and is a retired real estate developer. The Humanist Society is the second book in a trilogy on self-actualization.