What is a Skeptic?

Progress in all fields of knowledge proceeds by occasionally tossing out commonly held beliefs, sometimes at great personal cost and peril to the ones who ask embarrassing questions. Skeptics are routinely ostracised, jailed or executed for challenging authority. The history of Skepticism has its saints -- the ones who bravely for the truth and sometimes pay with their lives.

If you are not sure what Skepticism means, Wikipedia is not a bad place to start ...

The modern brand of Skepticism owes a lot to people like Michael Shermer who has done a lot to publicise and formalize the Skeptical world view. There are a lot of Skeptics out there, but few who use the term for themselves, mainly because they are confused about what it means to be a Skeptic. Skepticism is at the heart of Scientific method and every Scientist, to the extent that he's a professional and productive Scientist, must be a hard-core Skeptic. Any serious Skeptic should be familiar with the history of Science, which, it turns out, is also the story of the great Skeptics -- the ones who asked impertinent questions and got pertinent answers.

To be a Skeptic simply means to believe that all issues are subject to scrutiny and that logic and evidence, not opinion, authority or mythology should be accepted as the foundation of our world view. Of course, this means that what seemed well established today may need to be revised or abandoned tomorrow, so a true Skeptic has no "beliefs" that are immune to re-evaluation.

Skepticism does not apply only to "objective" issues, like those dealt with in Science. It applies equally to all fields of human experience, especially to ethics, politics and religion. "Faith" is central to some religious sects in the sense that the "believer" must accept certain  "facts" that are true and beyond the reach of investigation, discovery, discussion or revision. There is a misconception that Skepticism is at odds with religious experience and values. However. it is simply a mistake to place blind faith at the centre of one's world view. It's a popular mistake, but still a mistake.

Our collection of facts about the world should be built up through Skeptical inquiry. We are still left with choices to make (actually a lot more choices) regarding what to do with the facts. Discussion of choices and their consequences moves into modes of discourse that are not normally thought of as appropriate to Skepticism, such as religion, ethics an art. But here too, the Skeptic insists that open and free exchange of ideas is the road to helping us understand the truly fundamental and important choices that each of us must make.

I identify myself to be a Christian and a Skeptic, so I have explaining to do, both to the Skeptics and the Christians. That's what this blog is about.