The Enlightenment - It's Not Over Yet

Three centuries ago, humanity entered a period of history called The Enlightenment. This period was characterized by the emphasis on reason as a method of inquiry. Most of the thinking world emerged from The Enlightenment in an enlightened state, but a shocking number of individuals remained behind, kicking and screaming and clinging to the dark ages.

Have things been getting darker lately, or is it just my imagination?

Homeopathy. Tarot Readings. Foot Reflexology. Urine Therapy. And so on. The other night, I was watching TV when a teaser for the dreaded local news announced that an area man had proof that there are extraterrestrials walking among us in Los Angeles. That would certainly explain a few things about this city, but of course, there was no substance to the story. After my amusement subsided, it was replaced by anger. Don't news providers have some sort of ethical obligations about what they pass along as news? The Russians had a great saying based on the names of their two newspapers, Pravda ("The Truth") and Izvestia ("The News.") There's no news in the truth and no truth in the news. Ain't that the truth.

So, where does an enlightened individual go for truth if not the news?

Skeptical Inquirer is described by its publisher, The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), as The Magazine for Science and Reason. I would take that description a step further. There are numerous magazines devoted to science and reason, but Skeptical Inquirer uses science and reason as a consistent, epistemological system for testing any hypothesis. Nothing is sacred. Nothing. CSICOP doesn't pussyfoot around alternative medicine practitioners, fringe scientists, or even traditional religions. For this reason, Skeptical Inquirer is not a magazine for everyone. If you hold any beliefs at all that you're unwilling to subject to rigorous scientific methodology, don't put this magazine on your Christmas list. On the other hand, if you're more interested in truth than faith, you can't go wrong with Skeptical Inquirer.

A major force behind Skeptical Inquirer is Martin Gardner, a writer who has delighted readers with his skeptical essays and mathematical puzzles for six decades. I first "discovered" Gardner through his classic book Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Forty years before Hollywood began its ridiculous love affair with L. Ron Hubbard, Martin Gardner exposed Dianetics as pseudoscientific nonsense. When I learned about Gardner's regular column in SI, Notes of a Fringe Watcher, I ordered my first subscription. Back then, in 1991, SI was a dainty 6X9 inch magazinette published 4 times per year. Now, it's a respectable 8X11 inch bimonthly.

Content
Each issue of Skeptical Inquirer includes a section called News and Comment. This section follows the news stories relevant to the skeptical community, finding material in news sources all over the world. SI closely followed the decision in Kansas to remove evolutionary biology from state testing requirements, the ensuing brouhaha, and the decision to reinstate those requirements. They pay close attention to news stories of criminal investigations enlisting psychics, or relying on questionably scientific "recovered memories." A couple of years ago, they reported that the FBI had hired a psychic to determine the cause of the crash of TWA flight 800. Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.

In addition to Martin Gardner's column, each issue includes a column by Joe Nickell, CSICOP's Senior Research Fellow, called Investigative Files. While Gardner's interests run more toward mathematical puzzles and debunking pseudoscience, Nickell's seem to run more toward religious mysteries (such as weeping statues), ghosts, UFO's, and claims without links to science. He's written books on the methods of investigating such claims, including information on forensics, detecting fraudulent documents, and identifying doctored photographs.

Book Reviews includes both science bestsellers and new skeptical publications. Articles of Note lists and summarizes articles related to skepticism in a variety of diverse magazines and professional journals.

The Articles section usually features a variety of topics of both modern and historical interest. Not all of the topics are such clearcut cases of pseudoscience of fraud; SI often addresses ambiguous and generally accepted subjects, such as the validity of various types of psychological testing. Some issues have a unifying theme. SI had a special issue a couple of years ago on science and religion. A variety of prominent thinkers, such as Stephen Jay Gould (biology), Richard Dawkins (biology), Stephen Pinker (linguistics), Ernst Mayr (genetics) and Steve Allen (yes, that Steve Allen!) contributed their differing thoughts on the conflict and conciliation between the scientific and religious communities. Another recent issue focused on the outstanding skeptics of the twentieth century, paying homage to many of their own. Interestingly, not all of the choices came from the scientific community. SI gave top honors to James "The Amazing Randi" Randi, a career magician. Using his own skills as an illusionist, Randi exposed folks like Uri Geller as frauds, and authored numerous books about exposing similar hoaxes.

If I Consider Myself a Skeptic, Will I Enjoy Skeptical Inquirer?
The News and Comments, Columns, and historical pieces should appeal to anyone with an interest in skeptical inquiry. Some articles include statistical analyses or subject-specific jargon, but SI is not a scientific journal. The target reader is the educated skeptic in almost any field. Over the past few years, I can remember only one article, one with a heavy emphasis on botany, that put me to sleep.

For its quality of writing, breadth of focus, and unflinching dedication to science and reason, Skeptical Inquirer gets my most emphatic 5-star recommendation.

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A one year subscription to Skeptical Inquirer (6 issues) is available for $18.95 ($22.95 out of the U.S.). For more information, or to subscribe, go to their web page at http://www.csicop.org/si/