Across families
Epicureanism and Secular Humanism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.12 (0 would be identical).
Atoms and void, gods who exist and do not care, and death as simply the end — so fear of both is misplaced. The good life is modest, friendly pleasure, deliberately unambitious about everything else.
One life, no supervision, and an ethics built from reason and human solidarity rather than received from anywhere. Organised, articulate and explicit that meaning is made rather than found.
Where they agree
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at ends at death — a gap of 0.00.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.00.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.02.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.03.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.03.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.03.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at optional or absent — a gap of 0.04.
A4 Locus
Both sit at wholly beyond the world — a gap of 0.05.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound and ignorant but fundamentally sound respectively — a gap of 0.06.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated — a gap of 0.06.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.07.
Where they part company
A3 Plurality
Epicureanism: between strictly one and many powers and spirits. Secular Humanism: strictly one. A gap of 0.53 on an axis running from “strictly one” to “many powers and spirits”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Epicureanism | Secular Humanism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | leaning nothing beyond the natural | nothing beyond the natural | 0.16 |
| A2 Personhood | between impersonal principle or order and a personal being one can address | impersonal principle or order | 0.36 |
| A3 Plurality | between strictly one and many powers and spirits | strictly one | 0.53 |
| A4 Locus | wholly beyond the world | wholly beyond the world | 0.05 |
| B1 Source of truth | reason and direct experience | reason and direct experience | 0.03 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.13 |
| B3 Institutional authority | individual conscience decides | individual conscience decides | 0.07 |
| C1 Survival of the self | ends at death | ends at death | 0.00 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.03 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.06 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | achieved by effort or insight | achieved by effort or insight | 0.00 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | optional or absent | optional or absent | 0.04 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.06 |
| E1 Exclusivity | between one true path and many valid paths | many valid paths | 0.25 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | beginningless or natural | 0.03 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.02 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.15 |
Positions for Epicureanism rest principally on Letter to Menoeceus, Principal Doctrines, Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura; for Secular Humanism, on Humanist Manifesto III (2003) and the Amsterdam Declaration (2002). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.