A Skeptic's Guide to History

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Come visit me at my new blog, Ivory Tower Metaphysics!

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You may have wondered by now “what qualifies you to talk about skepticism?”

For starters, I can talk about weird things because I used to believe in them. I’ve believed some pretty strange things before, such as prophecies, astrology, witchcraft, haunted houses, bigfoot, ufo’s, and pretty much every other weird thing out there. This gives me first hand knowledge of what it feels like to believe weird things.

I know this is not enough for most of you, so you will be pleased to know I am also somewhat educated.

I am currently working on a masters in history (which I am 1/2 way done with). I already have a b.a. in the subject, which I received with honors. This qualifies me to judge the historical development or validity of many things, like: holocaust denial, the Roswell crash, haunted houses, cults, astrology, 2012, homeopathy, etc…etc… My education was a large contributing factor to me becoming a skeptic. When I learned how to investigate historical claims and developments, it led to me losing credibility in these weird things.

My area of expertise is history of science (in particularly the tracing and development of scientific theories), which I find to be amazing. While this does not make me a scientist, it has taught me where to go to and how to view scientific and pseudo-scientific claims. It has also led me to believe that the natural world, which has been illuminated by countless geniuses like Darwin and Einstein, is much more moving than any fantasy world.

I am also training to be a philosopher. As of now, I  have accumulated 10 undergrad classes (including Critical Thinking, Symbolic Logic, and 20th century philosophy) and I am taking 2 more (Greek and Modern) next semester. This is actually more than what is required to get a bachelors in philosophy. When I am done getting my masters in history, I plan on enrolling in a masters program in philosophy with the goal of attaining a ph.d.

The 2 areas that I have devoted a couple of hours a day (for the last few years) to researching and learning are logic and epistemology, which happen to be the most important to skepticism. By understanding logic, I see through deception much easier. I recognize bad creationist and spiritual arguments very quickly.

I am also a science nut. To me, there is nothing more fascinating than going to a natural history museum or gazing up at the stars. While I am not an expert on these subjects, I am thoroughly well read and I can direct you to an expert on pretty much any topic. If I go back to school in my mid 30’s and get a degree in either physics or biology, it would not be surprising.

Lastly, I have a doctorate in Divinity from Thunderwood College’s school of theology. While it is unaccredited, so is Kent Hovind’s doctorate, so it should not be a problem.

There has always been a problem marketing history to the general audience. This is because, aside from major wars and biographies, laypeople show little to no interest in the past. This justified apathy stems from the failure of historians to talk or write about stuff people want to hear about. While this is not a problem for scholarly history, it is a rather large one for public history. I am doing graduate work in history and I am the first to admit I just don’t care about the historical homes, kitchenware, or fancy tea parties.

To solve this apathy problem, public history has embraced a position of intellectual suicide: ghost tours.

All across some of the most interesting historical cities in the United States, such as Charleston, New Orleans and Savannah, tourists are getting in buses to go on these tours. By giving these tours, companies are able to make a profit at history’s expense. Since the guides of these tours are rarely trained historians (or are historians that have swallowed their pride), they do not abide by historical standards of research.

Here in lies the dilemma. The companies can either (1) make profit and embrace nonsense or (2) tell the truth and embrace making little or no money. The justification behind giving the tours is simple. If it wasn’t for the ghost parts, there would be no tourists, thus no history of any kind would be learned. After all, it is just fun and that is what history should be: fun. I think this is wrong.

To me, ghost tours fall in line with Area 51 conspiracies. Pseudo-history and New Age nonsense are justified through profits and tourism. I think there is no excuse to lie to people, even if it results in profit. Cities like New Orleans and Savannah are so rich in history that you have to write off many REAL events to have the time to push this nonsense.

Instead of resorting to this, I would like to challenge the culprits to instead work hard to do interesting history that connects to the public. While it may be slightly less profitable, it will not drag your credibility through the mud, encourage desperate people, and fill your city’s history with lies.

If nothing else, you can give tours about wars, duels, and bare knuckle brawls. People always eat that stuff up.

Thank you.

Greg

As part of this blog’s commitment to skepticism, I am doing a monthly mini-biography series dedicated to raising awareness about some of my favorite irreligious people. The irreligious person can be living or dead and from any part of the world. October’s person is one of my favorite living skeptics.

Brian Dunning is a journalist, podcaster, and skeptic. Much in the tradition of Carl Sagan, Dunning is a nice guy that leaves the religious bashing to other people. Instead (like Michael Shermer and Neil DeGrasse Tyson), he focuses on building critical thinking through knowledge of logic and scientific methods.

His main focus is popular myths, like 2012, astrology, the Amnityville Horror, Big Foot, UFO’s, etc..etc.. These topics are fun, which allows him to appeal to people who do not have a history of skeptic thinking.

Dunning has done an excellent job promoting critical thinking with his Skeptoid podcast, his Skeptoid books (1 & 2), his In Fact video podcast, and his excellent (and safe for classrooms) movie Here be dragons.

This is part of my series on skepticism (index).

Now that I have defined skepticism, provided a basic kit for detecting baloney, and made reading suggestions, I think it is time for you to meet the skeptics. Unfortunately, I can not include all of the skeptics out there, but I am making an effort to construct a bare-bones list of some of the most noteworthy debunkers. Apologies if I missed anyone

• Carl Sagan (1934-1996 CE) was probably the most famous skeptic of our time. He was engaging, fiercely intelligent, and beloved by many for his tv series Cosmos. Sagan is accredited with inspiring countless skeptics, astronauts, and scientists to take up their occupation.
• James Randi (1928 CE), also known as The Amazing Randi, is a legendary magician that has dedicated the later years of his life to informing people about flim-flam. His presentations, books, and videos are both barbed and funny. Out of all of his life accomplishments, his greatest achievement is his founding of the James Randi Educational Foundation.
• Michael Shermer (1955 CE) is probably the most famous living skeptic. He is the founder of Skeptics Magazine and the Skeptical Society. He is a staunch defender of critical thinking, a talented public speaker, and all around nice guy. I really love his books and he is probably my favorite author of all time.
• Phil Plait is a skeptical blogger (Bad Astronomy), an astronomer, and now a television host. Plait is known for taking on “bad astronomy”, such as astrology, moon landing hoaxers, and 2012 people. He is the former president of the JREF and is an avid promoter of cosmological literacy.
• Brian Dunning is a skeptic columnist and scientific writer that is known for his Skeptoid podcast. Dunning is notable for making child friendly material that can be used in classrooms. His In fact videos are fun for everyone and cover everything from vaccinations to ghosts in a nice-guy (yet firm) manner.
• Neil Degrasse Tyson (1958 CE) is an urban astrophysicist that runs the world-famous Hayden Planetarium. Tyson is considered by many to be Sagan’s successor because of his “made for tv” personality (he routinely appears on NOVA Science, The Universe , and the Daily Show) and ceaseless effort to debunk nonsense and inspire young scientists.  Ironically, he receives hate mail from children for “de-planeting” Pluto.
• Penn and Teller are a famous duo of bullet catching magicians that have been deeply inspired by James Randi to become active skeptics. While they are wrong on global warming, they are virtually spot on regarding everything else. Their show Bullshit has many very good episodes (just watch out for the ones on climate change). They also come off as very nice guys.
• Massimo Pugliucci is both a scientist and a philosopher. He runs the podcast Rationally Speaking, which is the official podcast of the New York City Skeptics. He main focus of research recently has been the borderlands between science and pseudoscience. Although is is a technical scholar, he writes many particles for the layperson that are both enjoyable and practical.

this is part of my series on resources (index).

websites and blogs:

• Bad Astronomy (link)
• NASA for kids (link)
• Cosmic Invariance (link)
• Symphony of Science (link)
• Starts with a Bang (link)
• Hayden Planetarium (link)

people to follow on Twitter:

• Phil Plait (link)
• Neil Degrasse Tyson (link)

This is part of my series on the Middles Ages (index).

For some reason, people talk about the Dark Ages as if it lasted from the fall of Rome (476 CE) to the 1500’s. By doing so, they equate the entire period of the Middle Ages (more commonly known as Medieval) with superstition, church repression, and a loss of philosophical and scientific knowledge.

Let me go on the record and say that the Middle Ages≠the Dark Ages. While the Dark Ages most definitely existed, it only lasted till a little after 900. This was set on by a sack of Rome, a great depression, poor leadership, and a loss of knowledge from constant civil war. While Christianity flourished in this era, it was not the cause, but a side effect. Constantine (who was one of the culprits that helped in the deterioration of the Empire) did not set up the awful government, but inherited it from the pagans. People became superstitious for the same reasons they did in the Wiemar German Republic: superstition is comforting.

After 900, things began to change. In the centuries following, Northern Europe experienced a rampant growth in literacy (thanks to monasticism) and rediscovery of  scientific and philosophical thinking with the 1085 reconquering of Muslim Toledo. In Toledo, Christian Europe discovered vast tomes of knowledge that contained works on Alchemy & Algebra (both Islamic words), Arabic numerals, and the writings of Aristotle. This knowledge inspired many eccentric and great minds that overflowed the then recently founded universities of Cambridge. Some of the most notable people from this era include:

• William of Champeaux, 1017-1121 CE
• Anselm of Canturbery, 1033-1179 CE
• Peter Abelard, 1079-1142 CE
• Roger Bacon, 1214-1294 CE
• Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274 CE
• Duns Scotus, 1265-1308 CE
• William of Ockham, 1288-1348 CE

The founding of these schools, the discovery of Muslim knowledge, and the emergent brilliant minds and show that Europe was awakening from its slumber and was on the verge of an intellectual revolution.

I hope you enjoyed this first post of the first tiny niche of the Middle Ages time line. More great stuff to come

Nice Guys Finish First is a 1976 documentary on Game Theory made by Richard Dawkins. He shows how the theory applies to biology. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.