Skeptic Movement

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The scientific skepticism is an international network of organizations and individuals with the aim of a critical discussion of pseudo- and para-scientific issues, inter alia, in the realm of superstition or Alternative Medicine fall. She relies on scientific methodology and naturalistic explanations. In contrast to classic skepticism , members of the movement consider it possible in principle to gain reliable knowledge.

history

Historian Peter Lamont sees the origins of the skeptical movement in the controversy surrounding Uri Geller in the 1970s. A group of critics, including several psychologists and magicians, denied Geller any supernatural ability and provided rational explanations for his performances. The efforts of the new movement to refute alleged paranormal abilities, however, went beyond Geller and, above all, concerned astrology . In 1976, the conference The New Irrationalisms: Antiscience and Pseudoscience at the University at Buffalo finally led to the establishment of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP , today's Committee for Skeptical Inquiry , CSI . In the 1980s, more and more local skeptic groups formed, in addition to the USA, also in Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Mexico and Great Britain. In 1996, on the 20th anniversary of the founding of CSICOP, associations of skeptics existed in more than 20 countries. The first World Skeptics Congress , held in New York that same year, had over 1200 participants from 24 countries. In 2001 there were around 100 such organizations in 38 countries worldwide, including Argentina, Kazakhstan, Korea and Norway. Numerous websites, internet forums and skeptical magazines appeared. However, CSI and its journal Skeptical Inquirer continue to be at the center of the skeptic movement.

Characteristic

Richard Dawkins , biologist
Carl Sagan , astronomer and founding member of CSICOP
James Randi , magician

Representatives of the skeptic movement only view an assertion as fact if it is supported by scientific evidence and not refuted experimentally. In contrast to the traditional, philosophical skeptics, they do not fundamentally question the possibility of knowledge about reality, but accept methodological criteria against which claims of knowledge can be checked. These can be experimental tests or logical conclusions. Frequently treated topics are homeopathy and other alternative treatment methods, dowsing , astrology , parapsychology , extra-sensory perceptions , abductions by aliens , but also religious ideas such as creationism and reincarnation . They also criticize conspiracy theories , such as those relating to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 or the denial of man-made global warming .

Some well-known representatives of the movement are prominent scientists, such as Carl Sagan , Richard Dawkins or Stephen Jay Gould . Other members are prominent magicians like James Randi or journalists like Martin Gardner .

Associations

In the German-speaking countries, the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences (GWUP), founded in 1987, is the best-known organization for skeptics. She is a founding member of the European Council of Skeptical Organizations (ECSO), an umbrella organization of European skeptical associations established in 1994.

Controversy

According to Carl Sagan, the skeptics organization CSICOP, of which he was a member from the start, has an important social function. It is a kind of counterbalance to the “pseudo-scientific gullibility” of many media. Nevertheless, he saw the main weakness of the skeptic movement in its polarization. The idea of ​​having a monopoly on the truth and seeing other people as unreasonable morons is not constructive. This behavior condemns the skeptics to permanent minority status. According to this, “sensitive interaction with one another who accepts the human element of pseudoscience and superstition from the start” could meet with greater acceptance.

The CSICOP founding member Marcello Truzzi , who left the organization due to differences in content, defines a “real skeptic” as someone who takes an agnostic position and does not make any claims himself. A thesis cannot be "refuted", but only "not proven". Truzzi describes "skeptics" who take the view that there is evidence against an allegation as "pseudo-skeptics" who in turn would have to bear the burden of proof. However, such negative claims are sometimes quite unusual and are often based on plausibility statements rather than empirical evidence. As an example, Truzzi cites a PSI test in which the test person has the opportunity to cheat. Although this significantly reduces the evidence value of the experiment, it is not sufficient to refute the assertion examined. Science can state what is empirically improbable, but not what is empirically impossible.

In the course of an internal dispute within the GWUP, the co-founder and then editor-in-chief of its publication organ Skeptiker Edgar Wunder left the Skeptiker organization in 1999 . According to Wunder, a structural feature of the skeptic movement is a discrepancy between claim and reality. For example, many GWUP members would wage a ideological battle without sufficient technical knowledge and would argue selectively and irrelevantly. They are only interested in scientific investigations of parasciences to the extent that "the results of which could provide 'cannon fodder' for public campaigns".

literature

  • Jerome Clark, J. Gordon Melton: The Crusade Against the Paranormal. In: Fate. 32/9, 1979, pp. 70-76 and 32/10, 1979, pp. 87-94.
  • Kendrick Frazier: Science and the Parascience Cults. In: Science News. 109/22, 1976, pp. 346-350.
  • George P. Hansen: CSICOP and the Skeptics: An Overview . In: Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. 84, 1990, pp. 25-80 / Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. 86, 1992, pp. 20-63.
  • DJ Hess: Science and the New Age: The Paranormal, Its Defenders and Debunkers, and American Culture. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1993.
  • Paul Kurtz: New Skepticism. In: G. Kern, L. Traynor: The esoteric seduction - attacks on reason and freedom. Alibri Verlag, Aschaffenburg 1995, pp. 67-78.
  • Jan Pilgenröder: “Skeptic Organizations”: A socio- theoretical analysis. Society for Anomalies, Edingen-Neckarhausen 2004, ISBN 978-3-937361-01-7 .
  • Theodore Rockwell, Robert Rockwell, W. Teed Rockwell: Irrational Rationalists: A Critique of the Humanists' Crusade Against Parapsychology. In: Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. 72, 1971, pp. 23-34.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Lamont: Extraordinary Beliefs: A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem . Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 229 ff .
  2. ↑ Michael Shermer: A Skeptical Manifesto. The Skeptics Society
  3. ^ Paul Kurtz: The new skepticism. In: Gero von Randow (ed.): The stranger in the glass and other reasons for skepticism, discovered in the “Skeptical Inquirer” . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1996, p. 105 .
  4. ↑ GWUP - Threads
  5. ↑ Skeptic.com
  6. ^ Matthew P. Normand: Science, skepticism, and applied behavior analysis . In: Behavior Analysis in Practice . tape 1 , no. 2 , December 2008, ISSN  1998-1929 , pp. 42-49 , doi : 10.1007 / BF03391727 , PMID 22477687 , PMC 2846586 (free full text).
  7. ↑ Carl Sagan: The Dragon in My Garage or the Art of Science of Debunking Nonsense . Droemer Knaur, 2000, ISBN 3-426-77474-7 , pp. 363 f .
  8. ↑ Marcello Truzzi: About the pseudo-skepticism.
  9. ↑ Edgar Wunder: The Skeptic Syndrome.