The Naturalistic Outlook:
Skeptical Inquiry &
Secular Humanism
Justin Trottier
Executive Director, Centre for Inquiry Canada
The Naturalistic Outlook
FREE & CRITICAL THOUGHT
---> a) skeptical inquiry
(methodology) PART 1
---> b) scientific naturalism
(worldview) PART 2
Part 1: Skeptical Inquiry
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"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (Isaac Newton)
AGENDA
1. Point of Inquiry: Andrew Franknow, “We are star stuff”
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2. Overview: History and Lesson in Critical, Skeptical and
Scientific Thinking
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3. The demon-haunted world, Carl Sagan
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4. Here be Dragons (video)
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5. Game
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6. Richard Dawkins, Enemies of Reason Video (video)
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7. Myth Busters moon landing hoax
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8. Questions & Discussion
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1. Point of Inquiry: Andrew Franknow, “The
Cosmic History of Your Body”
2. Overview: History and Lesson in Critical, Skeptical and
Scientific Thinking
1. History of skepticism
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Plato & Socrates:
- Socratic method: feign ignorance regarding a concept people accept with absolute
certainty and ask very basic questions to expose the holes in people’s arguments (eg.
Euthryphro’s definition of piety)
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- Socrates called himself a “gadfly”
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- Socrates’ defense of impiety distinguishes between matters of common sense and
metaphysics
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- When confronted with death, Socrates said:
"to fear death is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does
not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men
fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils. And surely it is the most blameworthy ignorance to
believe that one knows what one does not know. It is perhaps on this point and in this respect that I
differ from the majority of men, and I I were to claim that I am wiser than anyone in anything, it would
be in this, that, as I have no adequate knowledge of things in the underworld, so I do not think I have"
(Plato, The Apology)
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- "the unexamined life is not worth living"
1. History of skepticism
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The Ancient Skeptics (The Pyrrhonians)
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- skeptic does not mean doubter, but from greek ‘skeptikos’ meaning inquirer or investigator
- concerned with methodological attacks on dogma and with a practical guide to life
- skepticism - like science - is finding a balance between blind acceptance and absolute skepticism
1. The pre-academics:
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- in what relation do we stand to things around us?
- practice ‘epoche’, the suspension of belief
- this should lead to a state of tranquillity based on a concept of moderation
2. The Academics:
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- distinction between metaphysical matters and common sense matters
- systematic attacks against dogmatic positions
- with respect to dogma, Arcesilaus said "when a 'wise man' points to a given perception and calls
is the truth, we follow him and also call it the truth; but when a fool points out a given perception
and calls it the truth, we laugh at him, call it an illusion. But this is to beg the whole question about
what is the truth: We have no criterion for deciding who is indeed the Sage [the wiseman] and who
is the fool; and lacking an ultimate, universally satisfactory standard, we cannot tell when we have
indeed before us or when we have representations that only look certain. And so we should engage
in epoche with respect to such perceptions, and should suspend judgement upon their truth“
- a humbling position
Critical Thinking
1. History of skepticism
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The Ancient Skeptics (The Pyrrhonians)
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3. The Post Academics:
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- accept guidance of nature and human senses but also accept limitations when it
comes to determining true nature of experiences
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IN SUMMARY
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- metaphysical universal qualifier: due to universal epistemic constraints, when it
comes to speculation regarding any matter of metaphysics - including theology - we
must honestly and openly acknowledge our ignorance regarding such matters
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- this creates egalitarian possibilities cause we are all equally ignorant of
fundamental reality, this is liberating and opens up possibilities for creating novel
ways to understand ourselves and our place in the world
Critical Thinking
2. Forms of Reasoning
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1. Analogical
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A is observed to be like B in certain respects -> humans experience world with constantly evolving
database of information which we use to make comparisons, categorize, analyze, etc and develop
regularities of nature
2. Three laws of thought
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a. Law of identity:
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x is x, where x refers in both cases to the same thing at the same time and in the same respect
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b. the law of non-contradiction:
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statement or state of being and negation cannot both be true, statement can't be both
true and false
c. law of excluded middle:
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a meaningful claim is either true or false
Critical
Thinking
3. Building an argument
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1. propositions (statements that are either true or false) and conclusions build arguments
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PREMISSES (your reasons for maintaining) -> CONCLUSION (your position)
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premise indicators: since, as indicated by, if, because, the reason is, for, as, given that
conclusion indicators: therefore, hence, thus, so, accordingly, then, establishes
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a. simple argument: one premise infers to general conclusion
- if premise is false conclusion is false
- to recognize an argument, first determine conclusion then check if premises are good
enough to support it
- premise can be hidden
- conclusions can be main and subsidiary
- premisses can support conclusions as converging separately or linked in support
To critically analyze arguments:
1. Look for indicator words. Determine whether they are premiss-indicators, conclusionindicators, or neither
2. determine the conclusion, the main conclusion
3. separate noise from premises
4. determine whether the premises separately orjointly support conclusion
5. using a legend, diagram the relationship between the premises and conclusion
6. check argument to ensure there are no implied or hidden premises or conclusions
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Abbreviated argument: one or more premisses or conclusions are absent -> concept of
conceptual clarity means don't leave anything hidden
Critical Thinking
4. Modes of Reasoning
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1. Deductive Arguments:
Sound argument guaranteed if premises are true (content) and support conclusion properly (structure)
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- argument formally valid (but not necessarily true)
eg. syllogism: 3 lined argument in which conclusion is inferred from two premisses
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2. Nondeductive arguments
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- conclusion not formally valid but probably or likely (eg. probabilities, statistical sampling, polls)
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a. inductive generalization (ex scientific reasoning)
b. statistical syllogism: going from sample of a group to an individual of the group
c. induction (causal reasoning): scientific reasoning based on a hypothesis/educated guess, leading to use of
empirical tests through senses and equipment by making induction style predictions from general to particular
and attempting to falsify them
Observation--->Hypothesis--->Prediction--->Experimental
data
--->Observation (confirmation or falsification)
Critical Thinking
5. Scientific reasoning
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- science comes from latin scire "to know"
- science can deal with purely academic or intellectual concerns and more practical concerns
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- scientific reasoning the most popular form of attainng knowledge concerning cause and erffect
relationships of physical world
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- double blind experiments increases objectivity: neither the researchers nor the subjects are
aware of who are in the control group and the test group
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- levels of explanation:
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-->hypothesis (educated guess, working idea to explain particular phenomenon accepted
tentatively)
-->model (analogy, like a map or DNA double helix)
-->theory (strongest type of scientific explanation, well developed and confirmed explanation)
-->law (rules by which things function, general principles in which to understand particular
instances)
- scientific method - ex. what killed the dinosaurs? (disease? ice age? meteor?)
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- pseudoscience: generally appeal from ignorance, pseudo = fake or not real -> CSICOP
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3. Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World
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Pass out excerpt and read from pg 202, 207216
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”Extraordinary claims require extraordinary
evidence (Carl Sagan)”
4. Video (Here Be
Dragons: critical analysis
of pop phenomena)
5. Horoscope Game
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6. Richard Dawkins, Enemies of Reason
Video (video)
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7. Myth Busters moon landing hoax