Email the chairperson, Jacques Rousseau, by clicking here. Alternatively, you can fill in the contact form at the bottom of this page.
1. Core Membership Statement
Members of the Free Society Institute commit to holding themselves responsible for what they believe, and for striving to hold beliefs responsibly, in that they will be guided by empirical evidence rather than by dogma, prejudice or superstition. In particular, the Free Society Institute holds a naturalistic worldview, disbelieves in the existence of supernatural agents, and rejects the influence of metaphysics on public policy.
The FSI’s Constitution can be downloaded here (pdf).
Join the FSI by following this link.
2. Strategic Aims and Philosophy
The Society aims to encourage intellectually honest debate on topics which are vulnerable to influence and/or suppression by the entrenched interests of pre-scientific traditional dogmatism, and well as debate on the nature and role of reason and rationality itself. We hold supernatural views of reality to be one of the more powerful threats to individual liberty of thought, and strive to remove this threat on a socio-political level in both South African and international contexts, to ensure the freedom to debate any issue in a manner which leads humanity closer to Enlightenment and Humanist ideals. More specifically, we hold the following to be true:
- That freedom of speech is an essential liberty and a human right
- That intellectual honesty is a fundamental to a naturalistic and realistic worldview
- That a naturalistic and realistic worldview is most conducive to human flourishing
3. Strategy
The Free Society Institute will:
- Promote local and international debate
- Provide commentary on issues relating to our strategic aims, including controversies and events in the domains of religion, ethics and politics
- Organize and promote local public awareness projects related to our aims
- Defend liberal, secular and Enlightenment ideals
- Defend the rights of South Africans and citizens of the world to hold non-theistic world-views, and to be free of persecution and prejudice in doing so
- Strive to build a strong and vocal community of free-thinkers in South Africa
- Work closely with strategic partners, such as the IHEU and others, in defending our ideals and promoting their growth in South Africa and elsewhere
- Seek to educate and inform South Africans of the value of Enlightenment principles and the Scientific Method
4. Roles Within The FSI
FSI Chairman
2009 – present: Jacques Rousseau (email)
FSI Coordinator
2009 – present: Kent Solomon (email)