CT Quotes against skepticism

[Milehigh]

Or should I say excessive skepticism, a collection of quotes. See Here Is especially when everyone is excessively skeptical of you...

Keith and Barrett I was thinking of you when I found this.

Eric

[ginger]

Seems to me that most are offering a theme of support for the sceptic, rather than not. Scepticism , is a healthy attribute to encourage and the antidote for dogma. Bertrand Russell,says it well,
"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever
that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the
majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish
than sensible." -

Thanks for these quotes. Must file them.
Cheers

[Jon Newman]

"You damn skeptics!"--Jon Newman

[Barrett Dorko]

I'm with Michael Shermer in the Skeptic magazine. To paraphrase:

Skepticism isn't a position held but a process undertaken.

I also like this one:

"What we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out."
- Bertrand Russell

[mszlazak]

Skepticism could be viewed as self-defeating if carried out to it's logical extreme. That's why no one really is a true skeptic.

There is also the issue of phoney skepticism. In order words, I believe only in my world view unquestioningly but criticize everything else. Some call this "local skepticism" and it really stands against the view of open mindedness. By open mindedness, I mean that one is open to the possibility that one is wrong.

However, there is a much bigger issue and that is DECEPTION that masquerades as skepticism. I've noted this before and it is a feature of professional debunkers and the organizations they belong to. It seems to me to be more an issue of power and dogmatic belief than a search for truth with these folks. A recent example is given in this podcast on the reports of Ben Radford:

http://www.skeptiko.com/upload/skept...en-radford.mp3

This is not an isolated case but is common amoung these groups.

Skepticism isn't science but one accept of it. Pseudo-skepticism is just close-mindedness at best and deception at worst. This video makes fun of extreme skepticism:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7618367/im-a-skeptic

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[Steve Hill]

So Barrett,
I imagine you have read "Why People Believe Weird Things"? I did. And it was good.

[Barrett Dorko]

Sure. Shermer's TED talk is especially good. I hope to be as cool and entertaining one day.

I listened to The Believing Brain recently as well.

[John W]

Skepticism isn't science but one accept of it.

I think you meant "aspect".

Mark,

I'm not really sure what your big beef is here. I don't know any regular member of this board who would identify skepticism with science.

However, the process that Barrett describes is inherent to scientific discovery because science holds that knowledge of the natural world is provisional; therefore, we must always be willing to relinquish ideas that fail to withstand scientific scrutiny. That is, we must be skeptical. (This is something sorely lacking, by the way, among the manual therapy community, which is pretty much why this forum exists.)

Skepticism isn't science, and I don't think it's quite accurate to say it's an aspect of science either. It's more an attitude that scientific thinkers adopt as they apply the method.

[nari]

Skepticism can exist in any topic one can think of - from religion through to dodgy looking loaves of bread. One needs to be skeptical about buying a car especially when the salesman raves about its qualities.
It pays to be skeptical about anything at all, not just science. It is a process of not taking an opinion for granted unless that opinion can be shown as close to a fact as it can be.

Nari

[Bas Asselbergs]

Right you are nari.
Even Mark is skeptical about....skeptics.

[zimney3pt]

"There are no skeptics."
"I doubt that."

( someone had to use one of the oldest quotes about skepticism in this thread)

Also thought I would add a link to Rationally Speaking Episode 46 to this thread as it seemed relevant.