BRIEF HISTORY OF CIPSI-PERU:

THE FIRST PERUVIAN SKEPTICAL GROUP 

 

Manuel Abraham Paz y Miño, 

Founding-Director of CIPSI-Peru and Editor, Neo-Skepsis

(Photo taken and edited by Tom Flynn, ca. 2000)

At the beginning of 1990s while browsing through an English-language magazine -I don't remember if it was Nature or New Scientist- I saw an advertisement about The Skeptical Inquirer so I asked them for a sample issue. That's how I got in touch via epistolary correspondence with philosopher Paul Kurtz (USA), president of the organization that published it, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP for short) now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

Because of our interest in skepticism and secularism we were invited to the 13th World Humanist Congress (co-organized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union, now called Humanists International) in Mexico City in 1996 where we met Kurtz and other skeptics and secular humanists in person. 

Some time later, our work of dissemination of skepticism began through the founding of the Committee for the Investigation of the Paranormal, Pseudosciences and Irrationality in Peru (CIPSI-Peru), with academics from various disciplines, in 1998, and its periodical Neo-Skepsis ("New Skepticism" in Greek), a critical-rationalist magazine with 15 issues already published, 4 printed and 11 digital, and which currently has the support of the Rationalist Humanist Institute of Peru (IHURA-PERU).

Neo-Skepsis publishes original and translated articles by authors from around the world. It has had in its honorary editorial board prominent skeptics such as: Mario Bunge (1919-2020), Tom Flynn (1955-2021), Paul Kurtz (1925-2012) and James Randi (1928-2020).

Printed issues:
# 1: Science or Pseudoscience?         # 2: The UFO Phenomenon

# 3: The Paranormal Phenomena     # 4: Psychology and Pseudoscience

On Facebook we have opened a CIPSI-Peru page, and the Peruvian Skeptics page with its discussion group (1).

Through Ediciones de Filosofía Aplicada (EFA), our freethinking publishing house started in 1994, with more than 50 books published to date, we have released some skeptical (2) titles, as well as secular, philosophical, etc. 

In 2006 we organized at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, the II Iberoamerican Congress of Critical Thinking and, between 2011 and 2016, 4 seminars on science, pseudosciences and pseudoscientific therapies, as well as periodically we carry out other seminars and activities, such as talks and debates, inside and outside that house of studies.

Paul Kurtz at the II Iberoamerican Congress of Critical Thinking in Lima, 2006. 

(Photo from archives.centerforinquiry.org)

It should be added that we have a Youtube channel called Filosofía Aplicada TV [Applied Philosophy TV ]where you can watch our activities: conferences, debates, seminars, interviews, documentaries, microprograms critical of supernaturalist and paranormalist claims (3). 

For our work in spreading humanist, rationalist and skeptical points of view, Kurtz named us CFI-Perú, one of the affiliates that the Center for Inquiry (CFI), the institution he founded together with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), has all over the world.

Manuel A. Paz y Miño, director of CFI-Peru, in a public demonstration, organized by the Center for Inquiry (in Amherst, New York, USA), that walking on burning coals is not necessarily harmful, much less superhuman.

And we also teach, when possible, to university students that kind of criticism in our country of ancient Andean-Catholic syncretic tradition where, especially in the highland provinces and even in their universities, the natural forces are still worshipped, especially the hills, the earth and the water, with Our Fathers and Hail Marys. 

Of course there are Peruvian science popularizers (Darwiniana, Dr. Trónico, Plato's Robot, etc.), scientific newscasts (Robotitus, Salud con lupa) and newscasts in general (Ojo público) that also question pseudoscientific claims especially in social networks. And here, in Peru, as in many other parts of the world, many biased news, magazines and books are published, and even radio and television programs that promote this type of paranormal beliefs are broadcasted (4).

NOTES

(1) There is also on Facebook another skeptical group independent of ours: Perú Escéptico. 

(2) The Secular and Humanist Society of Peru (SSH), a separate organization from ours, has published the book El mundo invisible. Ensayos con pensamiento crítico (2020) by biologists H. Aponte and D. Barona and psychologist V. García-Belaunde where they explain biological evolution, the supposed visits of extraterrestrials and ghostly apparitions, as well as terraplanism, among other topics. 

(3) Other skeptical channels were "La manzana escéptica" (2016-2021) by V. García-Belaúnde and "Para Normales de la Noche" (2011-2022) by communicator A. Landacay (first called "Escépticos en la radio" and transmitted by the open and internet signal of a Lima radio station, and where I was one of the first co-hosts), as well as the podcast "Guía Escéptica "(2015-2017) by then university student A. Austral.

(4) For more information see "Paranormal and pseudoscientific claims in the Peruvian media" (in Spanish): http://neo-skepsis.blogspot.com/2021/09/las-afirmaciones-paranormales-y.html
Furthermore, a former video in English of the same topic is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h1o2avwnbQ

(Translation from the Spanish article BREVE HISTORIA DEL CIPSI-PERÚ: EL PRIMER GRUPO ESCÉPTICO DEL PERÚ by Deepl.com, and reviewed by the author)

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15:  SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)