Skeptic's Dictionary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Skeptic's Dictionary is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book.[1] The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003. The website has continued to grow after the publication of the book and contains about one hundred more entries than the book.
The printed version has nearly four hundred entries and is one of the most comprehensive single-volume guides to skeptical information on pseudoscientific, paranormal, and occult topics. The entries are referenced and the bibliography contains some seven hundred references for more detailed information. According to the back cover of the book, the on-line version receives approximately 500,000 hits per month.
Carroll is an atheist[2] and "hardened skeptic" (one "who has strong disbelief about all things occult"). Carroll states that the book is not meant to present a balanced view on occult subjects — it is intended to be a small counterbalance to the voluminous occult and paranormal literature. [3]
The articles in the book are in several catagories:
- alternative medicine
- cryptozoology
- extraterrestrials and UFOs
- frauds and hoaxes
- junk science and pseudoscience
- logic and perception
- New Age beliefs
- the paranormal and the occult
- science and philosophy
- the supernatural and the metaphysical.
Print versions are available in Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, and Spanish [1]. A newsletter keeps interested parties up to date on new entries and an archived list of previous newsletters is available for online perusal.
According to the author,
- “The Skeptic’s Dictionary is aimed at four distinct audiences: the open-minded seeker, who makes no commitment to or disavowal of occult claims; the soft skeptic, who is more prone to doubt than to believe; the hardened skeptic, who has strong disbelief about all things occult; and the believing doubter, who is prone to believe but has some doubts. The one group this book is not aimed at is the “true believer” in the occult. If you have no skepticism in you, this book is not for you.”
He defines each of these categories, explaining how and why, in his opinion, his dictionary may be of interest, use, and benefit to each of them. He also defines the term “skepticism” as he uses it and identifies two types of skeptic, the Apollonian, who is “committed to clarity and rationality” and the Dionysian, who is “committed to passion and instinct.” William James, Bertrand Russell, and Friedrich Nietzsche exemplify the Apollonian skeptic, Carroll says, and Charles Peirce, Tertullian, Soren Kierkegaard, and Blaise Pascal are Dionysian skeptics. [2]
A sample entry appears below:
- A ghost is an alleged disembodied spirit of a dead persons. Ghosts are often depicted as inhabiting haunted houses, especially houses where murders have occurred. Why some murder victims would stick around for eternity to haunt a place while others seem to evaporate is one of the great mysteries of existence.
- Many people report physical changes in haunted places, especially a feeling of a presence accompanied by temperature drop and hearing unaccountable sounds. They are not imagining things. Most hauntings occur in old buildings, which tend to be drafty. Scientists who have investigated haunted places account for both the temperature changes and the sounds by finding sources of the drafts, such as empty spaces behind walls or currents set in motion by low frequency sound waves produced by such mundane objects as extraction fans.
- Some ghost experiences are attributed to sleep paralysis. [3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Robert Todd Carroll (2003), The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-27242-6 (paperback).
- ^ Robert Todd Carroll's Personal Profile
- ^ Skeptic's Dictionary, pp. 1-3.
