| Has CSICOP lost the 30-years war? |
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| Paranormal & Unexplained, | |
| Written by Administrator | |
 By Guy Lyon PlayfairCSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) came into existence at the 1976 convention of the American Humanist Association (AHA) held in Buffalo, NY, from 30 April to 2 May. Its two principal begetters, Professors Marcello Truzzi (sociology, Eastern Michigan University) and Paul Kurtz (philosophy, State University of New York) were both resolute sceptics with good track records as campaigners against the rapid spread of interest in occult and paranormal subjects that took place in the early 1970s following the publication of Colin Wilson’s best-seller The Occult (1971) and the dramatic appearance on the scene of Uri Geller. In 1972, Truzzi had begun to publish an occasional newsletter, Explorations, renamed The Zetetic in 1974, and the following year he announced the formation of RSEP - Resources for the Scientific Evaluation of the Paranormal.( Truzzi and Anomalistics ) “I never really got off the ground beyond the announcement,” he would recall later, “because of what happened next.” 
So far, so good. Following the highly successful Buffalo meeting, CSICOP was up and running fast in all directions, especially towards the media which generally gave it favourable coverage. Then things began to go badly wrong. It soon became evident that Truzzi and Kurtz did not see eye to eye on ways of combatting the rising tide of occultism. As Truzzi put it later, “the problem with CSICOP is that it has made debunking more important than impartial inquiry” (personal communication, 25 June 1987) and it seemed clear right from the start that while Truzzi was all in favour of impartial inquiry, Kurtz wasn’t. There were already signs that CSICOP was becoming what Robert Anton Wilson called The New Inquisition in his book (1986) of that name. There were even genuine sceptics like the astronomer Carl Sagan who refused to sign the anti-astrology manfesto on the grounds that “statements contradicting borderline, folk or pseudoscience that appear to have an authoritarian tone can do more harm than good”. Read complete article from Skeptical Investigations Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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