Don’t be put off skepticism by the people…
Skepticism isn’t an organization, a religion or a cult. You don’t have to attend a sermon, buy a book, or read this blog.
You don’t have to label yourself an agnostic, an atheist, a freethinker, a humanist, a bright, a rationalist, a libertarian, or even a skeptic.
If you crave some buzzwords and sound bytes, then skepticism is about critical thinking, clear thinking, logic, rationale, science, and keeping an open mind.
If these still sound too stuffy, then skepticism is about about knowledge, understanding, honesty, truth and reality.
If these sound too moralistic, then skepticism is about not getting ripped off, bullshitted to, or fucked over.
Skepticism isn’t only about science, the paranormal and pseudoscience.
You don’t have to join a group, donate cash, sign up, learn a handshake, sleep with the ‘leader’ or drink the Kool-Aid.
Some skeptics even break the stereotypes. We’re not all nerdy, sloppy, bespectacled, intellectually elitist, socially impaired, egotistical sycophants who attend conferences to get some because no one beyond such a hypothetical group would touch them with a barge pole…
You can ‘do’ skepticism within the confines of your own mind, and express it in what you do and say.
Some of the most profound moments of skepticism are those that are rarely acknowledged; when you have a really brilliant teacher, or lecturer, or a friend offers you some solid advice or helps you to think a different way about something.
These illuminatory moments are like mental orgasms. The firing synapses, the light bulb switching on, or Carl Sagan’s candle in the dark.
My point is, try skepticism, whatever you want to call it and however you want to do it.
Linked from over at BadAstronomyDotCom. I have two words.
Well. Said.
Nicely done. Beautiful, profound, and, of course, true.
I agree Sespetoxri - nice and succinct. Well written and to the point.
Heh, thanks for the ‘join the group’ and ‘don’t sleep with the leader’ bit. Sometimes I worry…
Karen, I am delighted you are a part of the TANK Vodcast. This blog reminds me of Carl Sagan, even without the mention of his book.
Well said, well done, and thank you for saying it…
And I love the candle in the dark…. might make a great logo image for some bright critical skeptic.
Or maybe I’ll use the meme myself - I have a camera and a few candles….
Again, thanks for the post.
jbs
[...] Skepticism and why it’s good for you, by the Skepbitch. [...]
Hmmmm? I don’t know about this whole skepticism thing. Sounds fishy to me.
Yoo rook rike yoo know how too pahty I not know what yoo say about skeprik but Hoo Flung Poo say yoo won hottie! Yoo Hoo Flung Poo aplooved! Hai
Well said.
Damn you, now I have to start a skeptics folder in my google reader.
So Skepticism is basically Agnostic under a different name.
@brbrl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic
No need to thank me!
It would be kewl if we had a secret handshake, though.
Jeff Ellis “The Thinker” http://jeffreyellis.org/blog/
If skepticism isn’t about buzz words or labels, then why would one need to apply a label as a skeptic. Frankly I think you’re fooling yourself.
Critical, clear thinking, honesty, reality, these are all just buzz words used by self proclaimed skeptics to give themselves cause. They don’t exist outside of your own sphere, unless you find others that think like you. Then you’re subjective “reality” has extended to others, therefore it’s more valid because others think like you.
On a high level you’re no different than those falling for lies and pseudoscience (as you’ve called it). The only differences between you and they are the frequency of conferences and a little vocabulary.
yup agree wid ur philosphy of skepticism..kind of cool..
ur skeptomaniac world is as intersting as ur thought
[...] synopsis. Via the Bad Astronomy [...]
Hey, I’m not sloppy!
I’ve been a dyed in the wool skeptic since I read Rood and Trefil’s skeptic look at the possibilities of extraterrestrial intelligence, Are We Alone, about fifteen years ago. And it’s out of print. Seemingly, skepticism has little market value. Shocking!
I can[t lie. I was mostly attracted to this blog by the fact ’skepbitch’ is such a great name.
You’re a funny writer to, i shall be back!
Love,
http://itsjustaphase.wordpress.com/
Regardless of what some think there is a distinct difference between living your life in the mystical world of woo and living an evidence-based life where one analyzes information and decides for one’s self what is real, instead of relying on what someone else says is true.
Orb photos are very unconvincing.
Fight the woo.
Critical, clear thinking, honesty, reality, these are all just buzz words
That is what she said they were.
Interesting post.
Curious what skeptics take for granted, that is, what are skeptics not skeptical about?
Would you would agree that any person, regardless of religion (or any other belief), can assume the skeptical stance? Is a religious person, or person with a belief in UFOs etc. always already “ripped off, bullshitted to, or fucked over?”
I only have a problem with your choice of Carl Sagan. Upon the matter of UFOs he is not a skeptic, he is totally in opposiiton of looking at the phenomena with neutral eyes and mind, If one has a predisposed position about somehting at all times, no matter what body of evidence is presented to you, you are not a skeptic. You have already positioned yoursel at one sid eof the question, no matter what.
Nice thought and well written.
I agree. A healthy skepticism is almost required in today’s crazy world…
Well put. It requires courage to discount the world’s truths just because somebody says it is true. Truth is always relative until you can see beyond the physical. And isn’t that what we all are striving for, whether we know it or not?
So you are equating skeptism with the entire critical thinking process? I am not so sure on this one…
What’s wrong with joining a skeptics’ group to get some? Just once, I want to hear a girl scream “Oh, the natural world! OH, THE NATURAL WORLD!!!”
Nice post. I like your site. Cheers!
Nice one. I saw the TANK programme too, and came up with my own way of describing what skepticism is: the opposite of naivety. Nobody likes being described as naive, gullible, credulous and easily exploited, after all.
anangeli’s comment reminded me of something that I wrote a while back (“Playing dodgems with science”). Almost everyone who has a pet mad idea, be it UFOs or homeopathy, will tell you that their own pet mad idea is different from all the others. That might have some relevance to answering loganfidler’s question, too.
sweet. “Candle” was a seminal work. The point that “extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof” is not prima facie evidence that Sagan was closed minded in regard to UFOs.
Just (very appropriately) extremely skeptical.
I like the nature for which you stated things about skepticism.
Perfect, clear and amusing.
most things, at their most honest, are not about buzzwords. buzzwords and labels are only representative of their meaning, for instance the word cat represents a real living cat. though the more abstract the representation becomes, the more people tend to get the word (eventually the idea of the word) and its meaning mixed up over time. we’re too busy minding the words, we forget their real meaning… @ rationalzen, anyone who says honesty and reality are a buzzwords must give themselves hell for speaking at all.
Great work. I’ve visited Dr. Michael Shermer and thanked him for his work. I think the word atheism should be replaced with nontheism because it is more accurate and less provocative. True skeptics in ancient Greece believed that nothing is knowable. We’re not true skeptics, we just don’t accept anything based purely on belief.
I do wonder about the efficacy of chasing down every crackpot claim to disprove it. It seems there must be a more generalized basis to knock out the idiotic from general discourse. I do however applaud james randi for his publicity aware campaign - it seems to have more traction than epistemological based disproofs.
Keep up the great work!
“You don’t have to label yourself an agnostic, an atheist, a freethinker, a humanist, a bright, a rationalist, a libertarian, or even a skeptic.” — especially not a libertarian. That’s a political stance which has nothing to do with skepticism, despite what some of its proponents say. Rather, like other political stances, it’s based primarily on emotion. I’m not saying it’s irrational — it’s just that people want different things, and have different visions for the world, and they base their politics on these, not on reason.
my third eye tells me your on to something…LOL
great post!!!
Here, here. I wish more people were skeptical, it would save lives everyday! If you’re only thinking positive, you’re only getting half the story!
http://www.thepowerofnegativethinking.com
Plus…
There was (and still is, I believe) a band called Skepticism.
I am curious tell me more
There:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism_(band)
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Skepticism
http://www.skepticism.fi/
Well said! Also, for more on skepticism, check out Bertrand Russell. He’s the man!
Wow, talk about overcomplicated! To me, skepticism is just not immediately accepting everything you hear, having to really KNOW something before accepting it as truth, and that’s that! Why this huge article about it “not being a club, religion, etc”? I’ve never even heard of anyone thinking or assuming such things.
Some say that it can be healthy, and it can be unhealthy.
Not literally, of course, but you get the idea.
Pithy and to the point. A healthy dose of sceptcism is essential in this day and age. Only this morning I had a senior lecturer provide me with course notes that included me teaching marketing and PR students about Google’s AdWords. Bloody Google just invents some flaky course and includes a competition, gets academics to deliver it and, presto, students are devotees of AdWords when they go into the world of commerce. Am I sceptical? You bet I am.
I got involved in research in the paranormal some time back (Google ‘Forbidden Knowledge’
and I was a bit uncomfortable with the labels some fellow sceptics insisted upon, ranging from ‘rationalist’ to ‘atheist’, which seemed almost compulsory so your blog is very enlightend.
Scepticism is the opposite of gullibility.
BismillaharRahmanirRahim
as-salaamu ‘alaikum. It is hard for me to relate because I have had a number of profound life experiences ranging from the birth of my children to the loss of my own life. And so much in between… its just hard to be a skeptic on things when you have been a witness to the miracles of our human experience.
I’m sure there was a time when I was a skeptic, in fact I know there was, however, there comes a time when one must develop some certainty about some things and I presume that comes with maturity throughout the development of our souls.
-Saifuddin
Thanks, well written!
*applauds*
“We’re not all nerdy, sloppy, bespectacled, intellectually elitist, socially impaired, egotistical sycophants”
I resent this - I have perfect eyesight and am therefore entirely unbespectacled, thank you very much.
@ rationalzen, anyone who says honesty and reality are a buzzwords must give themselves hell for speaking at all.
Honesty isn’t reality. There are some that believe that theft is wrong, but don’t have a problem downloading shareware software without ever paying the author for his work even though they agreed to do so. There are many that believe that telling someone a white lie in order to not hurt their feelings isn’t being dishonest. There are some that believe that inflating your tax deductions isn’t dishonest and so it goes.
Honesty is relative to the person, nothing more.
Reality is also a buzz word, it’s relative to the person, the culture, the geography. What percentage of those terribly American Idol auditions come from people that believe in reality they are good singers/performers?
Reality is relative.
[...] Filosofia, Internet e Blogs. Tags: blogs, ceticismo, Filosofia, Inglês trackback Traduzido deste artigo em inglês, que eu achei particularmente simples e [...]
[...] concise article on The Skepbitch about what skepticism is and isn’t: Skepticism isn’t an organization, a religion or a cult. [...]
Hello Skepbitch,
My name is Peterson Cekemp, you can call me Peterson. I read this post and loved it. I translated it into my blog - I see the pingback there, the comment #50. I kept the links and everything, put your name and etc. Is it allright?
Thanks
In that spirit: wesdavisblog.blogspot.com