"Skepticism" and Skeptical Organizations:
General ResourcesParapsychology,
Anomalies,
Science, Skepticism, and CSICOP
A Collection of Weblinks
presenting Arguments for and against the Paranormal
with a Critical Look at Pseudo-Skepticism and CSICOP
compiled by Daniel H. Caldwell
Email comments, feedback,
criticisms and suggestions to the compiler
Links marked with red bullets • are highly recommended.
"Skepticism is about enquiry and doubt, not about denial."
"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what
"Contrast alone can enable us to appreciate things at their right value;
isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true."
and unless a judge compares notes and hears both sides
he can hardly come to a correct decision."
Table of Contents
Parapsychology:
Selected Articles, Books and Websites
Parapsychology, [Marcello] Truzzi contends as a sociologist, is more tough-minded than many other academic fields, yet paradoxically, it remains a fringe subject. "Parapsychologists really want to play the game by the proper statistical rules," he expounds. "They're very staid. They thought they could convince these sceptics but the sceptics keep raising the goalposts. It's ironic, because real psychic researchers are very committed to doing real science, more than a lot of people in science are. Yet they get rejected, while we can be slipshod in psychology and sociology and economics and get away with it. We're not painted as the witchdoctors, but they are." Jonathon Margolis in Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic? ". . . members of the scientific community often judge the parapsychological claims without firsthand knowledge of the experimental evidence. Very few of the scientific critics have examined even one of the many experimental reports on psychic phenomena. Even fewer, if any, have examined the bulk of the parapsychological literature.... Consequently, parapsychologists have justification for their complaint that the scientific community is dismissing their claims without a fair hearing. . . ." Ray Hyman Articles on Parapsychology and the Paranormal
• Bem, Daryl J. Does Psi Exist?
• Bem, Daryl J. Ganzfeld phenomena
• Greeley, Andrew. The "Impossible": It's Happening
• Gruber, Jordan S. Review of Dean Radin's book The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena
• Hansen, George P. Magicians Who Endorsed Psychic Phenomena
• Irwin, H.J. Introduction to H.J. Irwin's An Introduction to Parapsychology
• Irwin, H.J. Evaluation of Parapsychology as a Scientific Enterprise (Chapter 17 in H.J. Irwin's An Introduction to Parapsychology
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. What is Parapsychology?
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. Can ESP Affect Our Lives?
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. Can Science Seek the Soul?
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. Do Brains Make Minds?
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. What Is Consciousness?
• Kuhn, Robert Lawrence et al. Strange Physics of the Mind?
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Life Within Death -- Death Within Life
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Unusual Powers of Mind Over Matter
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Astral Projection and Out-Of-Body Experiences
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Psychokinesis
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Proper Scientific Controls for ESP Experimentation
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. Evaluating Psi Research
• Mishlove, Jeffrey. To Err is Human
• Radin, Dean. Interview with Dean Radin
• Radin, Dean et al. Frequently Asked Questions about Parapsychology: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
• Utts, Jessica and Josephson, Brian D. The Paranormal: The Evidence and Its Implications for Consciousness
Recommended Books on Parapsychology
• Caldwell, Daniel H. A Core Library of 15 Books on Parapsychology and the Paranormal.
• Consciousness Research Laboratory. CRL Bookstore: Recommended Books and Resources on Parapsychology
• Division of Personality Studies. Books Recommended on Psychical Research and Parapsychology
• Psi Explorer. Recommended Books on Psi Phenomena
• Psi Explorer. Selected Psi Bibliography
• Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology. Parapsychology Resources: Booklist
• Tart, Charles T. The Professor's Bookshelf: Recommended Reading on Parapsychology and Related SubjectsWebsites on Parapsychology
• American Society for Psychical Research
• Archives of Scientists' Transcendent Experiences (TASTE)
• Consciousness Research Laboratory (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
• Division of Personality Studies, Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia
• Journal of Parapsychology
• Journal of Scientific Exploration
• Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
• Journal of the Society for Psychical Research
• Parapsychological Association
• Parapsychology Foundation
• Parapsychology Resources on Internet
• Parapsychology Sources
• Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Lab (Princeton University)
• Psi Explorer
• Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology
• Society for Psychical Research
• Society for Scientific Exploration
• SurvivalScience.org
"Skepticism" and Skeptical Organizations:
General Resources
"I call them scoffers, not skeptics," says Marcello Truzzi, director of the Center of Scientific Anomalies Research at Eastern Michigan University.
Truzzi, who studies what he calls protoscience, was a founding member of the world's oldest and most respected skeptic society, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). But Truzzi says he withdrew after growing disillusioned with the group's research methods.
"They tend to block honest inquiry, in my opinion," he asserts. "Most of them are not agnostic toward claims of the paranormal; they are out to knock them."
Truzzi says that some of the CSICOP researchers set the bar of proof outrageously high when it comes to the study of the paranormal. "When an experiment of the paranormal meets their requirements, then they move the goal posts," he says. "Then, if the experiment is reputable, they say it's a mere anomaly." Tanya Barrientos in The Paranormal? Pshaw!
• Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)
• Internet Skeptics Discussion Forum
• James Randi Educational Foundation
• Jim Lippard's Skeptical Information Links
• New York Area Skeptics Index of Bibliographies
• Prometheus Books
• Sci.Skeptic Frequently Asked Questions
• Secular Web
• Skeptic Annotated Bibliography
• Skeptic Magazine
• Skeptic World Site
• Skeptical Inquirer (Magazine)
• Skeptics Society
• Skeptic's Bibliography & Bookstore
• Skeptic's Dictionary
• Yahoo: Science/Alternative/Skeptics
Some of the Skeptics and Their Arguments Against the Paranormal
• Alcock, James. The Belief Engine
• Augustine, Keith. The Case Against Immortality
• Beyerstein, Barry L. A Cogent Consideration of the Case for Karma (and Reincarnation)
• Blackmore, Susan. The Elusive Open Mind: Ten Years of Negative Research in Parapsychology
• Blackmore, Susan. Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body?
• Blackmore, Susan. Psychic Experiences: Psychic Illusions
• Blackmore, Susan. What Can the Paranormal Teach Us About Consciousness?
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Parapsychology
• Carroll, Robert Todd. ESP (Extrasensory Perception)
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Testimonial Evidence
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Ad Hoc Hypothesis
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Pseudoscience
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Occam's Razor
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Confirmation Bias
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Post Hoc Fallacy
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Self-Deception
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Subjective Validation
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Wishful Thinking
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Law of Truly Large Numbers (Coincidences)
• Carroll, Robert Todd. True-Believer Syndrome
• Carroll, Robert Todd. Miracles
• Feynman, Richard. Cargo Cult Science
• Hyman, Ray. The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality
• Hyman, Ray. Proper Criticism
• Johnson, Paul. Aren't all skeptics just closed-minded bigots?
• Kurtz, Paul. The New Paranatural Paradigm: Claims of Communicating with the Dead
• Kurtz, Paul. The New Skepticism: A Worldwide Movement
• Kurtz, Paul. A Quarter Century of Skeptical Inquiry: My Personal Involvement
• Lett, James. A Field Guide to Critical Thinking
• Lilienfeld, Scott O. New Analyses Raise Doubts About Replicability of ESP Findings
• Nisbet, Matt. The Best Case for ESP?
• Presley, Sharon. Why People Believe in ESP for the Wrong Reasons
• Randi, James. One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
• Sagan, Carl. The Burden of Skepticism
• Sagan, Carl. Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit
• Shermer, Michael. Baloney Detection: How to draw boundaries between science and pseudoscience
• Shermer, Michael. How Thinking Goes Wrong: Twenty-five Fallacies That Lead Us to Believe Weird Things
• Shermer, Michael. How to Be A Skeptic
• Shermer, Michael. How to Teach a Course in Science, Pseudoscience, and Skepticism
• Shermer, Michael. A Skeptical Manifesto
• Shermer, Michael. Skepticism as a Virtue: An inquiry into the original meaning of the word 'skeptic'
• Shermer, Michael. The Truth is Out There & Ray Hyman Wants to Find it: An Interview with a Co-Founder of Modern Skepticism
• Wiseman, Richard; Matthew Smith and Jeff Wismen. Eyewitness Testimony and the Paranormal
A Critical Look at the "Skeptics" and
Their Arguments
"The most ardent skeptics enjoy their skepticism as long as it does not encroach upon their most cherished beliefs. Then incredulity flies out the window. . . . It is easy, even fun to challenge others' beliefs, when we are smug in our certainty about our own. But when ours are challenged, it takes great patience and ego strength to listen with an unjaundiced ear." Michael Shermer in A Skeptical Manifesto ". . . the same scientific mind-set that thrives on high precision and critical thinking is also extremely adept at forming clever rationalizations that get in the way of progress. In extreme cases, these rationalizations have prevented psi research from taking place at all. Ironically, the very same skeptics who have attempted to block psi research through the use of rhetoric and ridicule have also been responsible for perpetuating the many popular myths associated with psychic phenomena. If serious scientists are prevented from investigating claims of psi out of fear for their reputations, then who is left to conduct these investigations? Extreme skeptics? No, because the fact is that most extremists do not conduct research, they specialize in criticism. Extreme believers? No, because they are usually not interested in conducting rigorous scientific studies. Dean Radin in The Conscious Universe, p. 206-207 "There are three broad approaches to anomaly studies. . . . The second common approach is what critics usually call the debunkers' approach. This is the main attitude of the orthodox scientific community towards anomaly claims. It is characterized by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). "Whatever is claimed is nothing but ... something else." Seemingly anomalous phenomena are denied first and sometimes investigated only second. Like the Fortean the debunker is not concerned with the full explanation. Whereas the Fortean types don't want explanations, the debunkers don't need them as they believe they have already them." Marcello Truzzi in Reflections on the Reception of Unconventional Claims in Science Some Websites Devoted to Criticism of Pseudo-Skepticism and the Extreme Skeptics
• Alternative Science
• Closeminded Science
• Debunking the Debunkers
• Skeptical InvestigationsArticles critical of Pseudo-Skepticism and the Extreme Skeptics
• Alvarado, Carlos S. Review of The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
• Auerbach, Loyd. The Case for ESP
• Auerbach, Loyd. Magic, and What is Parapsychology?
• Auerbach, Loyd. Thinking Things Through: Assessing the Paranormal
• Barrientos, Tanya. The Paranormal? Pshaw!
• Bauer, Henry H. Review of Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition & Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer
• Beaty, William J. Against Excessive Skepticism: Collected Quotes
• Beaty, William J. The Symptoms of Pathological Skepticism
• Beaty, William J. They Laughed at Galileo: Three Common Examples of Straw Man Arguments Widely Used by Skeptics
• Bem, Daryl J. Response to Hyman
• Berger, Rick E. A Critical Examination of the Blackmore Psi Experiments
• Boerner, Rochus. Some Notes on Skepticism
• Brookesmith, Peter. War of the Words. Part I Part II
• Caldwell, Daniel H. Possibility versus Probability
• Clark, Jerome. Confessions of a Fortean Sceptic
• Drasin, Daniel. Zen . . . and the Art of Debunkery
• Grenard, Steve. Randi Attacks Remote Viewing Studies
• Grenard, Steve. Rebuttal to Book Review of The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death by Dr. Gary Schwartz
• Haisch, Bernhard. Be Skeptical of the "Skeptics"
• Hansen, George P. The Elusive Agenda: Dissuading as Debunking in Ray Hyman’s The Elusive Quarry
• Huyghe, Patrick. Extraordinary Claim? Move the Goal Posts!: A Commentary
• Josephson, Brian D. Unfounded criticism of a parapsychology book in Nature: Highly regarded journal refuses to publish correction of error in review: a case of censorship?
• Lewis, David. Debunking the Debunkers
• Lippard, James J. The Proper Role of Skeptical Organizations
• Long, Jeffrey P. NDE Rhetoric, Debunking the Debunkers
• Mallove, Eugene F. Voodoo Science, Indeed! --- A Review of Robert L. Park's Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud
• Matlock, James G. Review of Reincarnation: A Critical Examination by Paul Edwards
• Milton, Richard. James Randi's "$1 million challenge"
• O'Neill, Mick. The World's Largest ESP Experiment Ever: Wiseman's "Experimenter Effect" Examined See also A Reply to O'Neill by Richard Wiseman
• Owens, D. Stupid Skeptic Tricks
• Radin, Dean. A Field Guide to Skepticism Page I Page II Page III Also published on another site.
• Radin, Dean. Interview with Dean Radin
• Radin, Dean et al. Common Criticisms about Parapsychology
• Schwartz, Gary. A Call for Balanced Evidence-Based Scepticism
• Schwartz, Gary. Dr. Gary Schwartz Rebuts James Randi
• Sheldrake, Rupert. Controversies about Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home by Rupert Sheldrake
• Sheldrake, Rupert. How has your research been accepted within the scientific community? What do skeptics say about your work?
• Skeptical Investigations. Pioneering Investigators: Some Positive Skeptics
• Skeptical Investigations. The Randi Prize
• Skeptical Investigations. Skeptical Organisations and Magazines: A Guide to the Skeptics
• Skeptical Investigations. A Who's Who of Media Skeptics: Who Are the Dogmatists?
• Sofka, Michael D. Myths of Skepticism
• Stone, Greg. A Critique of Susan Blackmore's Dying to Live and Her Dying Brain Hypothesis
• Stone, Greg. Susan Blackmore's Response to My Critique of Dying to Live
• Tart, Charles. Science versus Opinion on the Paranormal
• Tart, Charles. Some Notes on Blind Faith and Skepticism
• Truzzi, Marcello. On Pseudo-Skepticism
• Truzzi, Marcello. On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal
• Truzzi, Marcello. The Perspective of Anomalistics
• Truzzi, Marcello. Reflections on the Reception of Unconventional Claims in Science
• Utts, Jessica. Rejoinder
• Utts, Jessica. Response to Ray Hyman's Report
• Wu, Winston. Debunking Common Skeptical Arguments Against Paranormal and Psychic Phenomena
• Zeiler, Brian. The Logical Trickery of the UFO Skeptic
Critiques of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal)
| "Originally I was invited to be a co-chairman of CSICOP by Paul Kurtz. I helped to write the bylaws and edited their journal. I found myself attacked by the Committee members and board, who considered me to be too soft on the paranormalists. My position was not to treat protoscientists as adversaries, but to look to the best of them and ask them for their best scientific evidence. I found that the Committee was much more interested in attacking the most publicly visible claimants. . . . The major interest of the Committee was not inquiry but to serve as an advocacy body, a public relations group for scientific orthodoxy. The Committee has made many mistakes. My main objection to the Committee, and the reason I chose to leave it, was that it was taking the public position that it represented the scientific community, serving as gatekeepers on maverick claims, whereas I felt they were simply unqualified to act as judge and jury when they were simply lawyers. . . . " Marcello Truzzi in Reflections on the Reception of Unconventional Claims in Science |
| "Complicating matters, Truzzi wanted to make the [CSICOP] publication an academic journal, giving all sides an equal chance to speak their mind on any given issue, but others in the [CSICOP] group were afraid that this could lead to the journal being taken over by the other side. The controversy over the purpose and goals of the magazine, plus personal differences with Paul Kurtz, resulted in Truzzi's resigning as editor and leaving CSICOP." Ray Hyman quoted in http://www.skeptic.com/archives03.html |
| "Surveys show that over half the adult population in the U.S. have had psychic experiences and believe in the reality of the phenomena. . . . Those who have had the experiences but encounter the debunking attitudes of apparent “scientific authorities” are likely to conclude that science is a dogma and inapplicable to important aspects of their lives. . . . Ironically, CSICOP’s activities will likely inhibit scientific research on the paranormal and might potentially foster an increased rejection of science generally." George P. Hansen in CSICOP and the Skeptics: An Overview |
Overview and Critique of CSICOP
• Hansen, George P. CSICOP and the Skeptics: An Overview"Mars Effect" Controversy and CSICOP
• Johnson, Paul. What is the `Mars Effect'?
• Kammann, Richard. The True Disbelievers: Mars Effect Drives Skeptics to Irrationality
• Rawlins, Dennis. sTARBABY Also published on another site.
• Klass, Philip J. CRYBABY
• Anonymous. A Brief Chronology of the "Mars Effect" Controversy
• Eysenck, H.J. Review of Tenacious Mars Effect
• Lippard, James J. "Foreword" in Suitbert Ertel and Kenneth Irving, The Tenacious Mars Effect
Other Critiques of CSICOP and Its Fellows
• Broughton, Richard S. Project Alpha: James Randi and CSICOP
• Clark, Jerome. The Debunkers vs. the UFO Menace: Part 1
• Clark, Jerome. The Debunkers vs. the UFO Menace: Part 2
• Clark, Jerome. Phil Klass vs. The "UFO Promoters"
• DeMeo, James. Response to Martin Gardner's Attack on Reich and Orgone Research in the Skeptical Inquirer
• Hall, Stephanie A. Folklore and the Rise of Moderation Among Organized Skeptics
• Lippard, James J. The Proper Role of Skeptical Organizations
• Lippard, James J. Robert A. Baker's Unattributed Copying
• Lippard, James J. Chronology of Events Involving "The Baker Affair"
• Mallove, Eugene. CSICOP: "Science Cops" at War with Cold Fusion
• Milton, Richard. CSICOP: The Paradigm Police
• Olson, Geoff. The Sceptic (Think) Tank
• Skeptical Investigations. CSICOP
• Stacy, Dennis. CSICOP Scare!: A Commentary
• Trull, D. CSICOP Takes Stock of the Media
Anomalies,
Science, "Pseudoscience," and Related Subjects
| "Despite years of attempts to study paranormal phenomena, there's been a scientific iron curtain raised against serious research on these experiences." Andrew Greeley in The "Impossible": It's Happening |
| "In 1819, Ernst Chladni reflected back on his struggles for the recognition of meteorites. While the Enlightenment, the 18th century intellectual movement that examined accepted doctrines of the time, had brought certain benefits, he felt it also brought with it certain intellectual problems. Now scientists 'thought it necessary to throw away or reject as error anything that did not conform to a self-constructed model.' The very success of scientific experiment and theory had led to a misplaced confidence that what was real was already within the circle of science. What was outside, therefore, what did not conform to scientists' theories, could be dismissed by invoking scientific authority and by ignoring or ridiculing observations not supported by it." Ron Westrum in The Blind Eye of Science |
| "New data and discordant, anomalous, or bizarre experiences or facts can destroy the best explanations. Thus we cannot say with absolute confidence that the data and theories of parapsychology must be false because they contradict the existing body of physical [scientific] theory." Paul Kurtz in The Transcendental Temptation |
• The Anomalist: A Print and Web Journal Exploring the Mysteries of Science, History, and Nature
• Anonymous. Great Quotes from Great Skeptics
• Anonymous. Pseudo-science or Proto-science?
• Bagnall, Philip M. Anomalous Meteor Phenomena
• Beaty, William J. You DARE to Criticize SCIENCE?!
• Beaty, William J. Heretic's Library
• Beaty, William J. Conventional Versus Maverick Science: Who's Right?
• Beaty, William J. New theories, scorn, & derision
• Beaty, William J. Fringe-sci and Crackpots and Breakthroughs, Oh My!
• Beaty, William J. That Which Is Not So . . . Yet
• Beaty, William J. Science is at its end, all the important things have already been discovered!
• Beaty, William J. Parascience Versus Pseudoscience
• Beaty, William J. Abhorrent Ideas in Science
• Beaty, William J. Why Did You Involve Yourself in All This Disgusting "Fringe" Stuff?
• Boerner, Rochus. Some Examples of Suppression in Science
• Chandler, David L. Maverick Scientists Encounter Barriers
• Dickau, Jonathan J. Doubting the Doubter or Why I have become Critical of Skeptics
• Eldridge, Don. Review of Forbidden Science: Suppressed Research That Could Change Our Lives by Richard Milton
• Gold, Thomas. New Ideas in Science
• Grossman, Neal. On Materialism as Science Dogma
• Halwes, Terry. Dispelling Some Common Myths about Science
• Halwes, Terry. The Myth of the Magical Scientific Method
• Hartwig, Mark D. Defending Darwinism: How Far is Too Far?
• Josephson, Brian. Has Psychokinesis Met Science's Measure?
• Josephson, Brian. Scientists' Treatment of "Heretics"
• Lyttleton, R.A. The Nature of Knowledge
• Martin, Brian. Letter to a Dissident Scientist
• Martin, Brian. Stamping Out Dissent: Too often, unconventional or unpopular scientific views are simply suppressed
• Martin, Brian. Suppression Stories
• Martin, Brian. Strategies for Dissenting Scientists
• McComas, William. Ten Myths of Science: Re-examining What We Think We Know. . .
• McConnell, R.A. The Sovereignty of Science (Scientific Belief is Obedience to Authority)
• Milton, Richard. Scientific Censorship: "You should be banned from the airwaves"
• Milton, Richard. Scientific Skepticism
• Milton, Richard. Scientific Censorship and Evolution
• Milton, Richard. Too Wonderful to be True
• Moller, Lee. Questions to help distinguish a pseudoscience from a protoscience (a new science trying to establish its legitimacy)
• Radin, Dean. In science, the acceptance of new ideas follows a predictable, four-stage sequence
• Richardson, Jim and Richardson, Allen. The Ball Lightning Mystery
• Rozelle, Terry. Epistemological Shame on You: You Just Can’t Believe Everything
• Rubik, B. The Perennial Challenge of Anomalies at the Frontiers of Science
• Sacherman, J. Cognitive Processes and the Suppression of Sound Scientific Ideas
• Schafersman, Steven D. An Introduction to Science Scientific Thinking and the Scientific Method
• Sheldrake, Rupert. Could Experimenter Effects Occur in the Physical and Biological Sciences?
• Sheldrake, Rupert. Experimenter Expectations
• Sheldrake, Rupert. Seven Experiments
• Singer, Stanley. The Question of the Existence of Ball Lightning
• Skeptical Investigations. The Objectivity of Science - The Traditional View: Does it Stand Examination?
• Skeptical Investigations. Cooking the Results: Recent Cases of Misconduct in Mainstream Science
• Sturrock, Peter. Curious, Creative and Critical Thinking
• Suber, Peter. The Clinical Attitude Toward Arguments
• Suber, Peter. Explicating Arguments
• Suber, Peter. The One-Sidedness Fallacy
• Suber, Peter. Real-World Reasoning
• Truzzi, Marcello. On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal
• Truzzi, Marcello. The Perspective of Anomalistics
• Truzzi, Marcello. Reflections on the Reception of Unconventional Claims in Science
• Wells, Jonathan. Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths: This Classical Story of Evolution by Natural Selection Needs Revising
• Westrum, Ron. The Blind Eye of Science
• Westrum, Ron. Sasquatch and Scientists: Reporting Scientific Anomalies9/23/04
See also: A Core Library of 15 Books on Parapsychology and the Paranormal.