The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism, First Edition. Edited by Andrew Copson and A. C. Grayling. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 20 This chapter considers the status and coherence of modern humanism as a secular and ethical philosophy. As secular, humanism prioritizes the naturalistic worldview, and privileges information from the social and cognitive sciences about human sociality and morality. As ethical, humanism does more than rec- ommend specific moral virtues and rules, by proposing methods to evaluate moralities and recommend ideals of moral progress for all peoples around the world. Humanism is not another moral code to add to the rest. As befits a theoretical ‘ism’, humanism self‐reflectively asks why the world needs yet another moral stance, and it philosophically defends its ethical position that better moralities can be discriminated from worse. Although morality is relative in the sense that it serves human needs and varies somewhat depending on social circumstances, it would be a mistake to categorize humanism as a kind of moral relativism. Moral relativism is one of most talked‐about yet least understood notions around today. Despite what one might hear, morality is neither a matter of taste nor preference, it is not arbitrary or immune from criticism, and we don’t have to tolerate just any- body’s moral opinions. No moral code of just one person, one culture, or even one civilization is objectively worthy enough to be imposed universally upon humanity. But it does not follow that human intelligence is not worthy of all humanity. Morality can be objectively studied, morality can be rationally debated and evaluated, there are justifiable ways to determine better and worse moral norms, and important moral norms can be reasonably recommended for all peoples. Systems of philosophical ethics take advantage of these intellectual opportunities, and their efforts have enriched the life of our species. Embracing simplistic moral relativism just to avoid unwise moral universalism rashly abandons the noble striving for the ethical improvement of humanity. Humanism, Moral Relativism, and Ethical Objectivity John R. Shook