My story with HAPI (Philippines)

My story started with my passion to help people. I just left the first non religious society I founded in November 2013. I can't sleep, tossing on my bed and said to myself, I want to be happy. I concocted the word HAPI, thru research, and group solicitation. My first experience taught me well and therefore, it was easier for me to create another society. That was more than 10 years ago. Humanist Alliance Philippines International-HAPI has experienced peak and valleys through its life.

There were issues and people who want to steal HAPI. However, we're able to surmount all of that. I am always the target of scammers and dishonest people.

HAPI has numerous chapters and events galore. Everything you can find in our website: www.hapihumanist.org

HAPI has evolved into an international society from the get go, but more so in 2015 when we became an affiliate of many secular societies outside the Philippines where HAPI is based.

We are the only Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered non-theistic society in the Philippines with regular community outreach. We zero in on education, thus, I also created HAPI scholars who are now in charge of the website. All funds for the scholars come from my own pockets. Investing in people is a lot better than investing on material things. I used to have 14 scholars. Now I only have 11. They are brighter than I, being groomed as the next HAPI leaders.

Our vision is to create an inclusive society devoid of discrimination.  We value equally amongst all men. We propagate humanism through kindness and education.

By Marissa Torres Langseth, BS in Nursing (University of San Carlos, Philippines), Masters in Adult Health Nursing (Lehman College-CUNY), 

Founder and Emeritus Chairperson of HAPI (Humanist Alliance Philippines, International), and Founder and Founding Chairperson of Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society, the Creator of HAPI-SHADE (Secular Humanist Advocacy Development Education)

Go to Eupraxophia # 17

Review: Mahner, Martin (2022). Naturalismo. La metafísica de la ciencia

[Naturalism. The metaphysics of science. Translated from German by Francisco Mota]. Pamplona: Laetoli, 236 pages.

By Manuel A. Paz y Miño, Editor, Neo-Skepsis

Mahner holds a PhD in zoology from the Free University of Berlin and was a research fellow of Mario Bunge at McGill University in Canada, with whom he co-wrote Foundations of Biophilosophy (Springer, 1997) and to whom he posthumously dedicates his Naturalism (p. 9) published originally in German in 2018. 

The problems Mahner deals with in his book, as we shall quickly see, are part of the philosophy of science, specifically the metaphysics and ontology of science. In this way, he rationally demonstrates that in order to do science and scientifically explain reality or nature we do not need to postulate supernatural entities.

Already in the prologue the author clarifies the position that accuses naturalism of reductionism in trying to understand social phenomena when in reality it has more than one concept (p. 7).

He also clarifies very well that naturalism and materialism are not the same and that their antagonists are supernaturalism and idealism respectively. Precisely the central theme of his work is the link between science with naturalism and supranaturalism; he will defend naturalism as a presupposition of science (p. 8).

In the introduction or chapter 1, he tells us that, thanks to the progress of the natural sciences, since the Enlightenment, the conception of the world is naturalistic, that is, "the universe exists by itself, precedes our desire to know and nothing occurs in it that is anomalous...it is uncreated, real and nomothetic [it operates according to natural laws]" (p. 11).

The advance of naturalism is opposed by religions and idealistic philosophies (pp. 11-12) and being naturalism "a philosophical presupposition of science...[it] is an indispensable part of its presuppositions and fundamental rules of the game" that makes scientific knowledge possible (p. 13). Naturalism is, then, a metaphysics of the natural and social sciences (p. 14).

Each of the next 8 chapters raises a series of questions and ends with the main theses as a summary.

Among the main theses of chapter 2 are: that nothing can be said about the transnatural, since it is an empty category; and that something can be understood of supernatural entities by their derivation from the natural and their relatively anthropomorphic character (p. 42).

In those of ch. 3: "Empirical scientific methods, such as observation, measurement and experiment, presuppose various metaphysical assumptions, such as realism, the principle of nomotheticity, the principle "Nothing proceeds from nothing" and a principle of antecedence and causality." But supranaturalism denies or violates these metaphysical principles, with the exception of the postulate of realism (p. 63).

In ch. 4 author maintains as a thesis, among others, that, in order to have empirical proof of the supernatural, it must interact with the natural.  For that, it must partly possess, or be able to possess, natural properties; and that "[t]he empiricist claim that one can measure, independently of metaphysical assumptions, the plausibility of hypotheses, both natural and supernatural, with the help of Bayesian confirmation theory, by neutrally processing empirical evidence with it, ignores the fact that already the collection of admissible evidence presupposes naturalism" (p. 83).

In ch. 5 it is argued that supranaturalistic explanations would be demarcated to the supernatural by being intentional explanations that are only comprehensible if they anthropomorphically expound the explanatory entities.  "The transnatural does not possess any kind of explanatory force"; and supernatural explanations explain "everything" or do so falsely.  They do not serve as scientific explanations; "Supernatural explanations of a state of affairs s have hardly any more explanatory force than the statement "We do not know what caused s" (pp. 103-104)."

The summary of ch. 6 states, among other things, that what is believed to be empirical verification of the supernatural does not in fact prove to be supernatural, but paranatural; and the supernatural cannot be empirically deduced from the supposed lack of explanation in the normal and the natural.  The investigation of nature by natural means cannot go beyond its boundaries (pp. 133-134).

Ch. 7 says that despite the triumph of the real sciences proves metaphysical naturalism, it does not ground it, and that scientific methodology does not get rid of metaphysics by being explained or grounded by metaphysical naturalism. "Scientific methodology is not ontologically neutral with respect to naturalism or supranaturalism, because the latter entails a methodology of its own that is irreconcilable with scientific methodology" (p. 153).

Chap. 8 enunciates that "[t]he relation of naturalism and science is not, contrary to the anti-naturalistic critique, a regrettable self-limitation of science, but the only possibility of objective knowledge," "[f]or the demarcation of science and pseudoclenchism, it is legitimate to use the question of compatibility with metaphysical naturalism as one of several demarcation criteria," and that "naturalism, as a metaphysics of presuppositions, excludes a strong epistemological naturalism, according to which science is not subject to any kind of philosophical presuppositions." That is, metaphysical naturalists cannot be, at the same time, strong epistemological naturalists (p. 174).

Ch. 9 argues that, if religion and science aim to express something true about the world, then they are in contradiction and that scientists who appreciate a coherent representation of the world cannot accept, at the same time, two worldviews with incompatible metaphysics and methodologies (pp. 183-184).

Ch. 10 deals with the conclusion of the book, in short: "Metaphysical naturalism is a necessary condition of the real sciences" (p. 185).

Then come all the notes (pp. 189-214) contained in all the chapters of the book and the abundant bibliography used (pp. 215-228).

In short, it is a very complete work, very useful for those who want to know more about the metaphysical presuppositions of science and scientific research, as well as the demarcation between science and pseudoscience and between the natural and the supernatural and the incompatibility of the latter with a naturalistic and empirical conception of reality.

Huanta, November 1st, 2023.

(Published originally in Spanish in the Peruvian Journal of Applied Philosophy # 24. Translated into English by Deepl.com and reviewed by author).

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: 

SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II)

 

FATE AND DESTINY OF THE RATIONAL SKEPTIC ASSOCIATION OF VENEZUELA

(Photo from Instagram)

Jesús Omar Guevara Rivas (1990-2021), 

Graduate of political scientist career and Lecturer, School of Psychology, 

Universidad Bicentenaria de Aragua, Venezuela.

It is also known as AREV, for its Spanish acronym. The description on its web page reads as follows (1):

The Rational and Skeptical Association of Venezuela (AREV) is an independent, non-profit organization, made up of open-minded people who have come together with the aim of spreading skepticism and rational thinking, and to put under scientific scrutiny the mystical and pseudo-scientific claims with which we are bombarded every day. The association promotes science and critical thinking as fundamental ways to improve the quality of life of citizens, providing them with the indispensable skeptical tools to confront the gratuitous and extravagant claims of superstition hucksters, paranormal hucksters and mystery mongers, who speculate on the ignorance of the public to obtain large dividends by offering panaceas and quick (and false) answers to human illness, misery and uncertainty.

AREV is virtually the only nationwide association dedicated to the dissemination of critical and skeptical thinking, with a special emphasis on fighting pseudosciences, especially pseudo-medicine and psychoanalysis; and, with the arrival of the "New Atheism" movement at the end of the 2000s, it has also mentioned the perverse consequences of religious thought, which at the time gave impetus to a certain growth of the Venezuelan skeptical movement, although in a rather unstructured way and without much organization.

The most finished product of the AREV is the magazine Lúcido [Lucid] (2), published until 2010 in digital format. Its editorial committee, in its last edition, was formed by Jorge Araica, Ricardo Babarro, Guido Nuñez, Álvaro Osorio, Jesús Pineda, Sami Rozenbaum and Domingo Subero, being Sami Rozenbaum the team coordinator. All of them AREV members.

Cover of the last edition (No. 29) of the digital magazine Lúcido, which was published for 9 years.

At the time of writing these lines, we are fortunate to have the testimony of Guido Núñez, now living in the USA, He tells us how the Rational Association had quite humble and even somewhat ironic beginnings, in which his personal experience of getting rid (by the skin of his teeth) of religious fanaticism played a relevant role, as well as the humorous touch that has always been associated with skeptics and naturalists since Democritus: "I started looking on the Internet and entered several pages that not only made the matter clear to me but also freed me from Christianity". Guido specifies: "I was about to become a Jehovah's Witness, but the evolution thing didn't fit me".

The search for more information driven by curiosity in the incipient internet of the year 2000 would give the answer. One of them was Javier Garrido's website (hosted by Geocities) Paraciencias al día (3).

[The page] had excellent articles.... And I start writing. I get in touch with Javier and we start sending letters. February 2001 arrived and I bought El mundo y sus demonios as a birthday present (...) in public transport I heard warnings of witches and decided to visit a witch saying she was a member of the AREV.

Guido tells us.

[The AREV thing] was a joke to see how she would react. Then I told Javier and he said: "What the fuck are we waiting for? (...) Then we got Sami because I started talking to people from CSICOP, and they told me that Sami was [in that group].

After successive contacts and the impulse of its first members, the Skeptical Rational Association was formed. Lúcido was born as its informative organ in December 2001, and in its first edition in that month it rightly states that

...[the AREV] was born in February 2001, in a very characteristic way for our time, as a mailing list in which we have met professionals and students, with an average age around 30 years old. We live in different cities, so many of us do not yet know each other personally, but we have exchanged abundant information and ideas to the point that we form a true virtual community; as befits our definition of skeptics, controversies are not uncommon.

All thanks to happy coincidences and the always valuable exchange of ideas facilitated by technology.

In 2004, Lúcido won the "Arístides Bastidas" Municipal Prize for Scientific Journalism, mention "opinion", awarded by the Council of the Libertador Municipality of Caracas. Its members were also noted at the time in defense of rational thought, such as Sami Rozenbaum at the IV World Skeptical Congress of CSICOP in Los Angeles (2002), or Guido Núñez himself as a participant in the First Iberoamerican Conference on Critical Thinking in 2005. AREV also had its radio program, Science and Legend, which was rebroadcast via web (4).

From left to right: Alejandro Borgo (Argentina), Paul Kurtz (USA), Sami Rozenbaum (Venezuela), 

and Manuel A. Paz y Miño (Peru) at the Fourth World Skeptics Conference (June 2002) in Burbank, California.

Open society and skepticism (or lack thereof) 

For better or worse, rather for worse, contemporary Venezuela offers additional difficulties for the development of any intellectual movement, and skepticism is no exception.

While the Association is not formally dissolved, it has not ceased to be a victim of the national situation that has driven the vast majority of Venezuela's citizens to survive and take care of more basic things like getting food and medicine. The urgency of daily life displaces little by little, and in the beginning almost without noticing it, the higher activities or those that would require more attention. Not to mention emigration, which has prevented several of its members from meeting more often.

"Politics killed everything," Guido tells us. And no, it's not necessarily about conflicts among its members for ideological reasons. It is politics that made it impossible to live normally in the country; first because it monopolized all public opinion, because of the merciless attack on democratic institutions throughout the 2000s; and then, because of the consequences of the subsequent economic crisis.

If we are talking about applying rational thinking, Venezuela today is plagued by irrationality in the form of public policies, and it freely reigns without restraint of any kind. In such a harsh environment, where universities struggle to survive without supplies, budgets, students, professors; where radio and television censorship is a harsh reality; where unreason takes human lives without any justification; and where, paraphrasing Carl Sagan, the shadows of the past grow stronger and stronger and reason is left alone like a small candle. It is in those places and moments when a necessary reflection is born: democracy and reason die in the dark.

Those who cherish their critical sense must always be alert to any irrational threat, even in the stillness and prosperity of what has been achieved, for the snake oil salesmen and agitators of hatred, anger and fear never rest. Whenever possible, the flame of science and reason, however feeble, must be lit.

Because the world where our demons rule is not a good place. And it never will be.

Notes

(1) https://arev.wordpress.com

(2) Note of the Editor:All of Lúcido's issues are on the web: https://arev.wordpress.com/revista-lucido/

(3) http://www.geocities.com/jgb64/Pseudo.htm -visible at Wayback Machine-.

(4) www.tecnologiahechapalabra.com

(Originally published in El Escéptico [The Skeptic] No. 52, Summer 2019, pp. 19 and 20. Digital version: https://www.escepticos.es/repositorio/elesceptico/articulos_pdf/ee_52/ee_52_sino_y_destino_de_la_asociacion_racional_esceptica_de_venezuela.pdf.. Translated from Spanish by Deepl.com)

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SKEPP:

THE STUDY CIRCLE FOR THE CRITICAL EVALUATION OF PSEUDOSCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL

Tim Trachet, Bach in Mathematics and Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, former reporter at the Flemish Association of Radio and Television (VRT), honorary and founding president of SKEPP and vice-president of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO).

On June 9, 1990, the association SKEPP (Study Circle for the Critical Evaluation of Pseudosciences and the Paranormal) was founded in Belgium. Formally, SKEPP had thirteen (yes!) founding members. In fact, only twelve of them signed the memorandum of association that day. The thirteenth didn't show up because... His house had been struck by lightning.

The late Flemish physician and professor Wim Betz (right) and his British-German colleague Edzard Ernsten, both famous skeptics of pseudo-medical therapies, at a European conference in London, 2003.

How did it come to this? Based on my personal experience, I would say... which was Wernher von Braun's fault. Not because the rocket developed by this German caused quite a few casualties during World War II, but because after that war, this rocket led to a rapid development of space travel, the undisputed highlight being manned flights to the moon. This led to unprecedented optimism. When the first man landed on the moon in 1969, experts predicted that the first man would land on Mars around 1980, at least before the end of the century. Anything seemed possible. And if humans could visit other planets in the foreseeable future, it seemed obvious to many that we would also receive occasional visits from aliens. Books about UFOs and extraterrestrial civilizations had a large circulation. Authors such as Erich von Däniken broke through with their books on the influence of aliens on cultures of the past and television was filled with series such as UFO and The Invaders, not to mention Star Trek.

Space travel also strongly stimulated interest in astronomy among young people. The Association of Astronomy in Belgium (VVS), founded in 1944, saw a veritable influx of young amateur astronomers, including the author of this article. Through the VVS magazine they not only received useful information about astronomy, but also some warnings about pseudosciences. The editor-in-chief continually pointed out in the magazine the "new superstition" about UFOs and extraterrestrials. In reality, he said, there were no UFOs, and in any case, astronomers did not see any UFOs. Most UFOs were reported by inexperienced observers who had never heard of a sunrise, had never seen a bright meteor, had no idea what the planet Venus looked like, or didn't know that the moon can appear very large when it's low on the horizon. The books of von Däniken and others were full of nonsense. It was a hoax, or at least – the word was already mentioned then – a pseudoscience.

At the same time, the magazine lashed out at another kind of nonsense: astrology. It is nothing new that astronomers considered this prediction based on the position of celestial bodies to be completely absurd. Two centuries earlier, the French astronomer and politician Bailly called astrology "the greatest disease that has afflicted human reason." The relative marginality in which astronomy found itself for quite some time was broken during the golden 1960s thanks to the emerging alternative movements. During the 1970s, interest increased, especially in the media, and commercial exploitation of the "alternative" sector began. People interested in science began to worry more and more about the nonsense that was coming up. Some prominent members of the VVS made statements about it on occasion in the press.

In 1976, the American magazine The Humanist published a statement by more than a hundred scientists and philosophers against astrology. A copy of the statement was published in the VVS magazine . Soon after, the philosopher Paul Kurtz, one of the promoters of the declaration, would create CSICOP, the current Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) in the United States.

That same year, a professor created a working group within the VVS to critically examine pseudosciences. Several young people (including the author) immediately joined in. The Prometheus group, as it was called for obvious reasons, would carry out intense study work for more than ten years and at the same time inform the general public through articles, pamphlets, lectures and debates with "pseudos" (sometimes also on television).

In the early years it was only about astrology, UFOs and related topics, such as von Däniken's theories. Throughout the 1980s, the group took on more and more work and focused on pseudosciences other than those that were considered peripheral domains of astronomy. For example, parapsychology and creationism.

CSICOP and its magazine Skeptical Inquirer had become world famous. Paul Kurtz and his employees regularly visited Europe, organized meetings, and encouraged like-minded people to join. This is how the Skepsis Foundation was founded in 1988 in the Netherlands and shortly afterwards the GWUP in Germany. Belgium already had a skeptical organization, even the oldest in the world! Since 1947 there was a Belgian Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena (known as the "Para Committee"). Formally it was a bilingual organization (in Belgium it has two official languages: Dutch – or Flemish – in the north and French in the south of the country). In practice, the majority of the members and all the leaders of the Para Committee were French-speaking.

The Prometheus group then began holding meetings with other interested and skeptical-minded people. The contacts thus established gave rise to an informal and larger group, in which psychologists and doctors also participated. The arrival of doctors ensured that medical problems were now treated as well. Among them was Willem (Wim) Betz, a professor of general medicine at the University of Brussels who, as a general practitioner, had witnessed the detrimental influence of alternative medicine on desperate patients. Betz seriously considered the possibility of founding an association against quackery, following the Dutch example. However, a group with only skeptical doctors would have been very limited. A group was then created to deal with pseudosciences in general.

Skepp: scientifically approved

What should happen now? Initially, it was thought to join the Para Committee collectively, some of whom were already members. But the Para Committee itself finally thought it would be better to have a separate Dutch-speaking association. The decision was made. The name SKEPP was soon accepted.

Managing the young association at first was not an easy task, especially since resources were very limited. SKEPP lived – and always lives – solely on the contributions of its members. Fortunately, it seems that many people are willing to contribute generously to an association that, apart from the magazine and the occasional conference, has little to offer its members. Therefore, members understand that SKEPP is there primarily to achieve its goals and that this requires money. It's not a lot of money, especially since all the work within the association is purely voluntary.

SKEPP has gained a lot of support and fame since its founding. The number of members has now grown to more than a thousand. However, a large number of members is not a goal in itself. When it comes to active contributors, SKEPP is still short on staff. We are especially lacking in "experts", people who have the courage and competence to study strange and controversial dossiers. This may be because the number of scientists and academics within SKEPP has not increased as much as the total number of members.

Magazine Wonder en is gheen Wonder [Wonder and is no Wonder] 2022 

Magazine Skepp 2023 

If we compare the texts that SKEPP has published through its magazine and website, we see the importance that medical topics have had in twenty years of operation. First of all, everything related to alternative medicine, in which Wim Betz – sadly deceased – has become an international authority. But all sorts of health claims, such as the supposed dangers of vaccination and mobile phone radiation, have also not escaped our attention. Surprising attention is paid to controversial psychological practices, such as psychoanalysis and modern human resource methods.

Creationism also received considerable attention. Belgium has relatively few opponents of the theory of evolution, but they are numerous among the Muslim population. On the other hand, less attention is paid to parapsychology and the occult than one might initially have thought. The investigation of the paranormal was limited to tests conducted by Marc Braem on clairvoyants, astrologers and astral travelers. This has rarely happened in recent years. "Psychics" aren't always enthusiastic about being tested by skeptics, though they can win a big cash prize if the test is positive. In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to conspiracy theories and bizarre opinions spread on the Internet. How could it be otherwise?

Finally, the presence of quite a few philosophers in our association has resulted in numerous conferences and articles with philosophical reflections, perhaps more than in other comparable associations.

The highlight in the media was our actions around a bill (1998-1999) that sought to implement certain alternative medicines. Wim Betz harshly and substantially criticised this proposal by the Belgian Minister of Health. On the other hand, an attack by this minister on the alleged bias of scientists towards his bill was responded to with an open letter in the press. This led to a bitter television debate with the minister.  All this has contributed to the fact that the recognition procedure provided for in the law has been tightened to such an extent that there is still no recognition more than twenty years after its approval...

This was perhaps our "finest hour", along with the "collective suicide action", in which members and supporters of the SKEPP took homeopathic medicines en masse in front of the cameras, of course without the slightest consequence. An event that became the first point of television news. This "suicidal action" was later adopted by other skeptical societies around the world.

"Collective suicide action" in which Skepp supporters massively ingested a homeopathic remedy with arsenic and snake venom but extremely diluted: ten times in water thirty times in a row, in Brussels, 2011.

SKEPP has also quietly intervened on occasion to stop serious media outlets, such as public radio and television, from paying uncritical attention to this kind of nonsense. Often with favorable results.

The mere fact that we exist is positive: people know us. Our website is widely consulted. Journalists know where to turn to get a critical response to some strange news. Students ask us for help in completing a capstone project. Victims of charlatans, sometimes desperately, ask us for advice.

In short, we can say of Skepp what Voltaire said of God: if he did not exist, he would have to be invented. Although... We really hope that we can abolish it as quickly as possible, if it turns out that it is no longer necessary. Unfortunately, that won't happen anytime soon, maybe ever. But as long as society is harmed by nonsense and deception, people will be needed to denounce it. There is still a lot of work to be done.

(Translation by Word of the Spanish article “BREVE HISTORIA DE SKEPP: EL CÍRCULO DE ESTUDIOS PARA LA EVALUACIÓN CRÍTICA DE LASPSEUDOCIENCIAS Y DEL PARANORMAL” and reviewed by M.A. Paz y Miño)   

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

HISTORY OF GWUP:

THE SOCIETY FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF PSEUDOSCIENCES 

(Photo by Evelin Frerk)

Amardeo Sarma is an Electrical Engineer by the Technische Universität Darmstadt 

and former chair of GWUP

The big bang for many skeptical organizations was Douglas Hofstadter’s seminal article in Scientific American in February 1982[1], in which he described the Skeptical Inquirer as David fighting Goliath. CSICOP was founded in 1976, so this article might be better titled Cosmic Inflation after the Big Bang. The article was reprinted two months later in its German edition Spektrum der Wissenschaft[2].

The article struck a chord around the world. Subscriptions to the Skeptical Inquirer skyrocketed, and among them were many of the future founders of the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften-GWUP (Society for the Scientific Investigation of Pseudosciences).

With the groundwork laid, a letter to all Skeptical Inquirer subscribers worldwide sparked the next step. I had offered to coordinate other subscribers in Germany and received the addresses of 20 people. In the end, ten of us met in Darmstadt on February 7, 1987. Five were subscribers, and five others I contacted who I knew would be interested, some of whom were already active in the fight against pseudoscience.

One of them was Irmgard Oepen, a professor of medicine, who later became the first president of GWUP and perhaps the first woman to lead a large skeptical group. She also strongly focused on the problems associated with pseudo-medical theories and practices, such as homoeopathy and anthroposophic medicine. This was still considered a fringe issue in America with little impact.

Many of the other founders dealt at issues like the the Bermuda Triangle, Uri Geller, Erich von Däniken, dowsing or “Earth Rays” as it is called in Germany, or ancient pyramids. We all also felt a strong need for a rational voice in Germany.

This led to the founding of the GWUP in October of the same year with our magazine Der Skeptiker, now called Skeptiker. We had already grown from 10 to more than 30 members. Today, we have more than 2000 members and in addition, more than 2000 subscribers to our magazine Skeptiker.

  
Dr. Martin Mahner Director of GWUP Information Center with Skeptiker Magazine

The German Skeptics got a big boost from the Amazing James Randi as early as December 1986, predating our first meeting. In that, Randi writes to me: “I have heard from Mark Plummer, Executive Director of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), that you are interested in forming a group in West Germany similar to CSICOP. I wish to encourage you to do this, and hope that you are successful.”

James Randi continued to support GWUP on many occasions. We had our first big joint project in 1990 on dowsing based on previous tests, such as in Australia.

One of the first major projects was to conduct a dowsing test. The German Research Ministry had earlier sponsored tests conducted in the University of Munich leading to the so-called “Wünschelruten-Report”[3]. The report claimed that some dowsers had extraordinary capabilities and were able to detect water with a divining rod.

We tested overall 20 people who claimed to be able to detect water and other articles with their dowsing rod. The Amazin Randi helped us with the conditions of the experiments based on his previous experience. None of those tested scored above chance in a randomised, double-blind setting[4].

(Photo by Leo Burtscher)

A dowser trying to find water in a bucket with his own onion pendulum 

 

In the early 2000s, we started testing people annually, which went on until the Corona epidemic. Here, we tested many different psychic claims, including dowsing, offering a prize of 10,000 €. No one performed well enough to claim the prize.

Our organisation started small with a room in my house via a small apartment close by to a full-fledged office with two employees.

Since the very beginning, we have been hosting annual conferences, starting with the first in Bonn in 1987. We interrupted the series when we hosted a European Skeptics Congress three times in Bad Tölz, Rossdorf and Vienna and when we hosted the World Skeptics Congress in Heidelberg (1998) and Berlin (2012). The congresses covered a wide range of typical skeptical topics but have moved on to topics related to science and science denial as well, as in the case of GMOs.

Another unique annual activity is that we evaluate the predictions of psychics and astrologers, which has been a big success with the media. A large number of newspapers report about this in December every year. We jokingly say that this is the only activity where journalists knock on our doors every December, and we do not have to go to the media. Of course, we publish a press release on this every year. An interesting aspect that some predictions are basically impossible even based on chance, such as predicting a Mars landing by astronauts considering that the journey takes more than a year.

Topic-wise, medical issues have been much of a focus for GWUP, which is not strange considering that Germany is where homoeopathy and anthroposophy were invented and still have a huge following. Confronting homoeopathy has also led to one of our major successes, where we have managed to turn the tide. Today, even most media have become more critical. Anthroposophy in medicine and schools, however, remain a major challenge for the future.

In addition, new topics have come in of late, such as conspiracy myths and topics related to defending science on climate, energy and agriculture, including GMOS and Glyphosate. We even had a special issue of Skeptiker on the conspiracy myths related to COVID-19.

We started with 10 in February, grew to almost 50 by the end of the first year, and now have over 2200 members and a similar number of subscribers to our magazine who are not members. Attendance at our conferences has grown from around 100 in the first decade to regularly more than 200.

With many new issues emerging where science and pseudoscience conflict, we face a similar challenge as many other skeptical organisations. Do we mainly stick to our traditional topics or move on? Whatever the focus, skeptics in Germany will continue to have a lot of work to do.

---

[1] Douglas Hofstadter: Metamagical Themas, February 1982. About two kinds of inquiry: National Enquirer and The Skeptical Inquirer.

[2] Douglas Hofstadter: Mathematische Spielereien, April 1982. Wissenschaft und Aberglaube: Der Kampf zwischen David und Goliath.

[3] Betz, König, H. L., Betz, H. D.: Erdstrahlen? - Der Wünschelrutenreport: wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungsbericht.

[4] König, R., Moll, J, Sarma. A.: Wünschelrutentest in Kassel. Skeptiker 1/91. Pp 4 – 10.

 GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

 

THE SKEPTICAL MOVEMENT IN MEXICO

(Photo from Facebook)

Mario Méndez-Acosta is a civil engineer (National Autonomous University of Mexico), a journalist and  theMexican Society for Skeptical Research-SOMIE's founding president.

Skepticism in Mexico arose from a group of friends reading Martin Gardner's book, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, during the sixties.

In 1982, while I was working for Jorge Saldaña's TV program Sabados del Trece in Mexico City, a character named Altamirano was introduced, who presented children who supposedly read with their fingers, while blindfolded. It was demonstrated there that they spied through the blindfold. 

A friend, Carlos Calderon, a stage magician and engineer, put us in touch with an American citizen, Ralph McCombe Snader, who in 1979 had organized the Mexican section of CSICOP. Through both of them we brought James Randi to Mexico, who examined the children in a Gessel camera at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Faculty of Psychology) that had been provided to us there by Dr. in Psychology Serafin Mercado. 

Randi unmasked the charlatan and published an analysis in that school's magazine.

Snader proposed that I head the Mexican section of CSICOP and I began to travel to the conferences of this organization in the USA, where I met, among others, in 1984, Paul Kurtz.

Kurtz proposed to organize an international conference in 1989, we accepted, and decided to create a civil association to be called the Mexican Society for Skeptical Research (SOMIE). The conference was successfully held in 1989.

In addition to myself, Mauricio Schwarz, Víctor Vázquez, Carlos Calderón, Héctor Chavarría, Héctor Escobar, Rafael Fernández Flores, Luis Ruiz Noguez, Juan Zuckerman and many others participated in the organization. The organization published magazines on skepticism in general and skeptical ufology for more than ten years.

Héctor Chavarría, Juan Chía, Héctor Escobar, Mario Méndez Acosta, 

Patricia López Zaragoza, and Carlos Calderón at a meeting of skeptics in 1992.

Mario Méndez Acosta in TV program ¿Y usted qué opina? [What do you think?] "Ovnis" [Ufos], March 9, 1992.

 

Mario Méndez Acosta, Héctor Chavarría, Héctor Escobar, Oscar García and Luis Ruiz Noguez at a meeting on UFOs, 1995. 

 El Investigador Escéptico [The Skeptical Inquirer], the Mexican Society for Skeptical Research's Bulletin  

Perspectivas ufológicas [Ufological Perspectives] magazine and book 500 years of Ufos in Mexico

Razonamientos, Revista de Pensamiento Humanista 

[Reasonings, Magazine of Humanist Thought]

(English translation by Deepl.com of the Spanish article EL MOVIMIENTO ESCÉPTICO EN MÉXICO, and reviewed by Manuel A. Paz y Miño)

 GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

ADVOCACY FOR ALLEGED WITCHES:

SKEPTICISM IN ACTION

(Photo from Humanists International)

Leo Igwe, PhD in Religious Studies (University of Bayreuth in Germany), and Bach. & M.A. in Philosophy (University of Calabar in Nigeria), and Director of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Skepticism is usually associated with the West, not with Africa or Africans. Western anthropologists, colonialists and missionaries introduced Africa as we largely know it today to the world. But that introduction was impaired. It was defective. Western interpretation of African culture is one sided and stereotypic. Western scholars explained Africa in religious, dogmatic, magical and occult terms. They presented Africans as primitive in thinking and outlook. Westerners have interpreted African cultures in ways that created the impression that scientific or skeptical rationality had no place in the African thought and culture. They westernized scientific outlook and Africanized magical thinking. This mistaken impression, or scholarized racism, which many African intellectuals have been reluctant to challenge, pervades and persists. The stereotypic image of a magical Africa has become a staple in the academic discourse of Africa. It has become a 'standard' for the perception and representation of Africa, African thoughts and cultures. This mistaken idea of Africa has become a liability. It encumbers and undermines efforts to foster skepticism, dispel superstitious beliefs, eradicate superstition based abuses, and realize positive and progressive change. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches is an effort to correct this mistaken impression and deploy skeptical rationality in addressing issues and problems that affect Africa and Africans.

This advocacy group, founded in 2020, combats witch persecution and campaigns to make witch hunting history by 2030. Witchcraft belief is a silent killer and eliminator of Africans. Witchcraft accusation is a form of death sentence. Alleged witches are attacked, banished or murdered. Alleged witches are buried alive, lynched or strangled to death in many parts of the region. The AfAW became necessary to fill in many gaps and supply missing links in the campaign and representation witch hunting in the region. Western anthropologists misrepresented and misinterpreted witchcraft and witch hunting in Africa. They created the impression that witch hunting was cultural to Africans; that witch persecution was useful and fulfilled socio economic roles. Western scholars presented witchcraft in the West as a wild phenomenon and witchcraft in Africa as having domestic value and benefit. They explained witchcraft accusations and witch persecutions from the accuser, not from the accused's perspective.

Incidentally, Western NGOs drive and dominate 'global' efforts to address witch persecution in Africa. Witch hunting is not a problem in the Western societies. So, Western NGOs have waged a lack lustre campaign that paper over the problem. They do not treat the issue of witch persecution with the urgency that the issue deserves. On their part, African NGOs and activists have been complicit. They lack the political and funding will to challenge this sham, and ineffective approach to combating witchcraft accusation and witch hunting in Africa. Meanwhile to end witch hunting, a paradigm shift is needed. The way that witchcraft belief or witch hunting is perceived and addressed must change.

AfAW exists to realize this shift and change. AfAW is an exercise in practical and applied skepticism. It deploys the canons of reason and compassion against witch hunting. AfAW engages in public education and enlightenment. It questions and debates witchcraft and ritual beliefs to dispel misconceptions too often used to justify abuses. AfAW tries to reorient and reason African witchcraft believers out of their illusions, delusions and superstitions. It foregrounds the skeptical Africa too often forgotten and ignored. Abuses linked to witchcraft and ritual beliefs are pervasive in Africa because the region lacks a robust initiative to apply skeptical thought and rationality. To this end, AfAW uses the informaction (from information and action) theory of change because witch hunting persists in the region due to lack of information, or misinformation, and due to lack of action, inaction, or infraction.

At the global level, there is a lack of information about witch-hunting in Africa. Although a lot has been written and published on witchcraft in African societies, many people in Europe and America do not know about raging witch hunts in many parts of the region. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches works to fill this gap and correct the misrepresentation of witchcraft accusations in Africa. We campaign to draw attention to this imbalance in the perception of the phenomenon. But correct information is not enough. Balanced interpretation does not suffice. To combat witch persecution, information needs to be turned into action. Interpretations need to be translated into effective policies and interventions, hence the action aspect of the informaction theory.

On the action side, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches takes measures to address the problem because lack of adequate information has occasioned inaction or infractions. Wrong information has resulted in apathy and indifference towards witch hunting in Africa. Many international agencies are reluctant to act; they have refused to take action or to treat the issue with the urgency it deserves. With adequate and balanced information, international organizations would take appropriate actions.

Pa Justin, a survivor of witch persecution and lynching back in his village in Benue.

At the local level, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches works to fill the information and action gaps. Many people accuse and engage in witch hunts due to a lack of information or misinformation. Accusers are misinformed about the cause of illnesses, deaths, and other misfortune. Many people persecute witches because they have incorrect information about who or what is responsible for their problems, because they are not informed about what to do and where to go, who or what to blame for their misfortunes. Many people do not know what constitutes sufficient reason and causal explanations for their problems. As part of the efforts to end witch-hunting, the AfAW highlights misinformation and disinformation about causes of misfortune, illness, death, accidents, poverty, and infertility, including the misinformation that charlatans and con artists, god men and women such as traditional priests, pastors, mallam and marabouts use to exploit poor ignorant folks. The AfAW provides evidence-based knowledge, explanation, and interpretation of misfortunes. It informs the public about the law and other existing mechanisms to address allegations of witchcraft. The AfAW sensitizes the public and public institutions, including schools, colleges, and universities. It sponsors media programs, issues press releases, makes social media posts, and publishes articles and blogs on witch-hunting in the region.

The AfAW facilitates actions and interventions by state and nonstate agencies. The post colonial African state is weak so state agencies have limited powers and presence. The AfAW encourages institutional synergy to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. The AfAW petitions the police, the courts, and state human rights institutions. It pressures these agencies to act, collaborate and take appropriate measures to penalize witch-hunting activities in the region. AfAW also intervenes to support individual victims of witch persecution. This intervention is based their needs and available resources. For instance, in situations where the victims survived and were not killed, AfAW works with relatives to take them to a safe location, support their medical treatment and facilitate access to justice. In situations where the alleged were murdered the AfAW supports relatives of victims and ensure that the murderers are brought to justice. As expected AfAW gets more cases that it can handle and support. Due to limited resources we have not been able to intervene in all cases that have been reported to us. However in less than four years, the advocacy group has registered effective presence through its interventions in Nigeria and beyond.

With an informactional approach, the AfAW is deploying the canon of skeptical rationality to save lives, awaken Africans from their dogmatic and superstitious slumber and realize an African enlightenment that speaks to a specific problem and challenge.

 GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

SKEPTICISM IN ARGENTINA

(Photo from pensar.org)

Alejandro Borgo, journalist, writer, director of Pensar magazine, 
representative of the Center for Inquiry in Argentina, 
and member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

Perhaps the first Argentine who wrote a book on skepticism was Eduardo Goligorsky. The book was called Contra la Corriente. Guía de mitos, tabúes y disparates para escépticos, herejes e inconformistas [Against the Current. Guide of myths, taboos and nonsense for skeptics, heretics and nonconformists] (Granica Edi,1972). In it, Goligorsky wanders through a wide variety of topics related to irrationalism. An essential gem.

Back in 1979, interested in paranormal phenomena, I went to the Argentine Institute of Parapsychology (IAP) to take a course. At that time, I had read a book that attracted my attention: Parapsychology, by Robert Amadou. Although I did not rule out the possibility of the existence of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis, I had my doubts. After the course, I began researching parapsychological phenomena at the IAP. I met serious researchers and, together with Daniel De Cinti (1954-2020), we became part of the Institute's research team.

We tried to replicate the "successful" experiments that appeared in the publications we received: the journals of the Society for Psychical Research in the United Kingdom and the American Society for Psychical Research in the United States. Thus, we learned statistics and experimental design. Over time, we did dozens of investigations with no positive results. We were strict with experimental controls and found no evidence for the existence of ESP. I left the IAP in 1987, after 7 years of serious research, and I was disappointed, as were many of my colleagues. We had already become skeptics.

The idea of forming CAIRP ("Argentine Center for the Investigation and Refutation of Pseudoscience") arose in late 1989 from a telephone conversation between Enrique Marquez and an Argentine subscriber to the Skeptical Inquirer, the official publication of CSICOP (now CSI). Both agreed to call friends from their environment who might be interested in forming a group dedicated to demystifying pseudoscience. At the end of February 1990 the first meeting took place, to which I joined myself, Enrique Carpinetti (Kartis), Naum Kreiman, Rudyard Magaldi, Enrique Peralta (Marduk) and Benjamín Santos Pedrotti.

It was thus that in 1990 a group of skeptical students, professionals and illusionists formed the CAIRP. The first members were Enrique Márquez, Alejandro Agostinelli, Enrique Pereira de Lucena (1956-2021), Enrique Carpinetti, Aldo Slepetis, Benjamín Santos Pedrotti, Heriberto Janosch, Ellen Popper and myself, together with other students and professionals who shared a skeptical view of the paranormal.

Many scientific researchers joined our initiative, among them: Dr. Celso M. Aldao (University of Mar del Plata), Dr. Fernando Saraví (University of Cuyo) and Iván Tiranti (Río Cuarto, province of Córdoba). Then more and more people joined, curious to know what the pseudosciences were about. Among them, Arturo Belda, Francisco Bosch, Orlando Liguori and others.

(Image from facebook.com/ElCojoEsceptico/photos)

In 1991 the first skeptical magazine appeared, which I had the pleasure of directing for six years: El Ojo Escéptico [The Skeptical Eye]. Both CAIRP and El Ojo Escéptico had an enormous impact in Argentina. We began to carry out a task of demystification of the paranormal that took us to the written press, radio and television. For years we were invited to hundreds of programs in which we had the opportunity to show "the other side of the coin". Many of the programs in which we participated can be seen on YouTube. We began to receive letters from teachers, journalists and other professionals, who contacted us to collaborate with our work. Carl Sagan accepted to be an Honorary Member of CAIRP. So did Mario Bunge, who in 1985 had tried unsuccessfully to create an association similar to ours. Thus, we began to give courses, lectures, workshops in various institutions, even at the University of Buenos Aires. And of course, we contacted CSICOP, the most important organization dedicated to the demystification of pseudoscience.

CAIRP was dissolved in 2001 because those who took a place when Márquez, Agostinelli and I were no longer there, distorted the work of the Center.

A few years later I joined the Center for Inquiry (CFI) and began to edit the magazine Pensar, in 2004, in print. The journal had hundreds of subscribers, but due to the economic crisis its publication had to be suspended in 2009. Then we resumed Pensar magazine, but this time online, pensar.org.

In 2005, the First Ibero-American Conference on Critical Thinking was held in Buenos Aires, with 21 speakers from various countries: Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, the United States and Spain.

The task of demystifying pseudoscience continues, but more people are needed, especially professionals, who are more committed to the fight against charlatanism.

(Translation by Deepl.com of the Spanish article EL ESCEPTICISMO EN LA ARGENTINA, and review by Manuel A. Paz y Miño)

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