What is Skepticism?
By Harrison Hartley

Q: What is a skeptic?
A: If you mean a single person, a skeptic is someone who has doubts about the accuracy of a statement or claim. If you mean people who practice skepticism as a philosophy of life, skeptics are those who try not to accept ideas or assertions automatically but on the basis of testable, consistent, rational evidence.

Q: Is skepticism a belief system, like religion?
A: No, skepticism is a way of thinking that separates belief from knowledge (beliefs being ideas that may or may not be provable outside the mind and knowledge being ideas that are, when tested, in accord with the world outside the mind).

Q: Are all skeptics atheists?
A: No. Many skeptics are atheists, many are agnostics, and many have deep religious faith.

Q: How do skeptics distinguish good and evil?
A: The same way everybody else does: by recognizing what supports a good life and what destroys it.  Many religious people claim that such convictions come from divine sources, but most skeptics would probably agree that ideas of good and evil are natural to the human condition.

Q: Do skeptics believe in life after death?
A: Many skeptics do not, but some do.  The difference is that those who do would probably not insist that their belief is a fact but a kind of hope that can’t be proved by current evidence.

Q: Do skeptics think religious people are silly?
A: Certainly not; at least, not mainly, though some skeptics may think religion is silly just as some religious people think skeptics are silly (or even evil).  Skeptics usually regard religion as a matter of culture and personal belief, and many are or were part of a religious tradition themselves.

Q: Do skeptics doubt everything?
A: No. Skepticism as a way of thinking is very practical.  There is no need to doubt whether you’ll fall down if you jump off the roof, but there are claims in science, religion, politics, and daily life that require serious examination.

Q: About how many Americans are skeptics?
A: Again, if you mean individual people who have the irritating habit of distrusting everything, lots of them!  If you mean people who have formally adopted the practice of using reason and testable evidence as a standard of truth, between 15 and 25 percent self-identify as such by membership in organizations that practice skepticism or in opinion polls.  The actual number may be somewhat higher.

Q: Why are skeptics feared or said to be evil?
A: Skeptics are not always feared or considered bad, only sometimes by groups whose beliefs don’t stand up well under examination.  Anybody who challenges tradition or “conventional wisdom” is likely to inspire fear, particularly if the challenge has merit.  The status quo appeals to those who profit by it, and change is scary to many others.

Q: What are the main skeptical organizations?
A: One of two very popular groups was founded as CSICOP, or The Committee for the Scientific Investigation for Claims of the Paranormal.  Today it is The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and it publishes Skeptical Inquirer every other month. The web site is www.csicop.org, and the address is Box 703, Amherst, NY, 14226-9973.
The Skeptics Society, Box 338, Altadena, CA, 91001, publishes Skeptic magazine quarterly, and may be reached at www.skeptic.com by Internet.

© Harrison Hartley 2010 for the St. Joseph (MO) Skeptics Society