The Skeptic's Dictionary

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>The Skeptic's Dictionary</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="keywords" content="skepticism, critical thinking"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="_style/style.css" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="_style/printstyle.css" media="print"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="s1.ico"> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>  <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-5487a05a7e027f30" async="async"></script> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>  <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>  <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-5487a05a7e027f30" async="async"></script> </head> <body><br /> <div class="container"> <div class="header"> <div class="logo"> <img src="_images/logo_01.png" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" width="270" height="60" /> <br> </div> <div class="slogan"> <img src="_images/slogan_01.gif" alt="A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions" width="362" height="30" /> </div> </div> <div class="menu"> <ul><div align="center"> <li>漏 <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bio.html">Robert T. Carroll</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/feedback.html">Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/faq.html">FAQ & Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tour.html">Site Map</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/about.html">est 1994</a></li> </div> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="left"> <h2>Topical Indexes</h2> <ul class="nav_1"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialtmed.html">Alternatives to Medicine</a></li> <li> <a href="http://skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html">Critical Thinking</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/ticrypto.html">Cryptozoology</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialien.html">ETs & UFOs</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tifraud.html">Frauds, Hoaxes, Conspiracies</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tijunk.html">Junk Science</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tilogic.html">Logic & Perception</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tinewage.html">New Age</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tipara.html">Paranormal</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tiscience.html">Science & Philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tisuper.html">Supernatural</a></li> <li> </li> </ul> <h2>Other Writings</h2> <ul class="nav_2"> <li><a href="http://sd4kids.skepdic.com">Mysteries & Science for Kids</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/news/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/essays.html">Skeptical Essays</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/randr.html"> Book Reviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://59ways.blogspot.com/p/index-of-unnatural-acts-that-can.html">Unnatural Acts blog archive</a></li> <li> <a href="http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimediaarchive.html"> Skeptimedia</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/funkarchive.html"> Mass Media Funk</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bunkarchive.html"> Mass Media Bunk Archive</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/harmarchive.html"> What's the Harm? Archive</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/wwwbunk.html"> Internet Bunk Archive</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/2good.html"> Too good to be true Archive</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/suburbanmyths.html">Suburban Myths</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/memoriam.html"> In Memoriam</a></li> <li></li> </ul> <h2>Other Resources</h2> <ul class="nav_2"> <li><a href="http://sd4kids.skepdic.com"></a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Skeptics-Dictionary/195265446870?ref=ts"><img border="0" src="http://skepdic.com/graphics/fbsquare.jpg" alt="facebook" width="36" height="35" /> Skeptic's Dictionary Facebook Page</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/RobertTCarroll"> <img border="0" src="graphics/twitter.jpg" alt="twitter" width="38" height="37" />follow SD on Twitter</a> </li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/UnnaturalVirtue.html">Podcast: Unnatural Virtue archive</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/hollow.html">A Skeptic's Halloween</a></li> <li><a href="http://renish.skepdic.com/AllNotes.html">Editor's Notes</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/getinvolved.html"> Get involved</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/future.html">Future Topics?</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/permissions.html"> Permission to print</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/report/">Site Statistics</a></li> <li></li> </ul> </div> <div class="content"> <div class="it"> <h2>From Abracadabra to Zombies<span class="small"> - <b> 785 entries</b> | <a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html">View All</a></span></h2> <ul class="alphabet"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#A">a</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#B">b</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#C">c</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#D">d</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#E">e</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#F">f</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#G">g</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#H">h</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#I">i</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#J">j</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#K">k</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#L">l</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#M">m</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#N">n</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#O">o</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#P">p</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Q">q</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#R">r</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#S">s</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#T">t</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#U">u</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#V">v</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#W">w</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#X">x</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Y">y</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Z">z</a></li> </ul> <webContent> <p><em><strong>The Skeptic's Dictionary</strong> features definitions, arguments, and essays on hundreds of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions. It also features dozens of entries on logical fallacies, cognitive biases, perception, science, and philosophy.</em> </p> <p class="quote">Also posted are over 20 years of reader comments. </p> <h3 align="center"><a href="http://skepdic.com/commentscontents.html">Click here for Index of all Reader Comments</a> </h3> <div class="box"> <div align="right"> <ul class="alphabet"> <li>Recent Entries or Modifications</li> </ul> </div> <p class="hangingindent"><u>Date</u>           <u>Status</u><a href="#code">*</a> <u>Entry</u></p> <p class="hangingindent">04 Aug<br /> <span class="highlight">new</span> <a href="http://skepdic.com/comments/natcancercurescom.html">reader comments: natural cancer cures</a>; <span class="highlight">revision </span><a href="http://skepdic.com/zombies.html#revision">p-zombies</a></p> <p class="hangingindent">15 Jul<br /> <span class="highlight">update</span> <a href="ignorance.html#note">argument to ignorance</a></p> <p class="hangingindent">11 Jul<br /> <span class="highlight">new</span><a href="http://skepdic.com/comments/atlantcom.html"> reader comments: Atlantis</a></p> <p class="hangingindent">04 Jul<br /> <span class="highlight">new </span><a href="http://skepdic.com/comments/psychokinesiscom.html">reader comments: psychokinesis</a><br /> </p> <p class="hangingindent">02 July<br /> <span class="highlight">new </span><a href="http://skepdic.com/comments/firecom.html">reader comments: firewalking</a></p> <p class="hangingindent"> </p> </div> <div><p class="more">Sample the Skeptic's Dictionary</p> <h1>Lourdes</h1> <p align="left">In 1858, at a grotto by the river Gave near Lourdes, France,聽 a 14-year-old peasant named Bernadette Soubirous claimed that the Virgin Mary, identifying herself as "the Immaculate Conception," appeared to her some 18 times.<a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1757">*</a>聽You'd think such a great number of visitations聽<img src="http://skepdic.com/graphics/bernie.jpg" alt="saint or confabulator?" width="185" height="233" hspace="10" vspace="10" border="0" align="left" />would have provided an opportunity to channel a short theological treatise of some significance. It seems, however, that the main message from the alleged "mother of a god" was: "Pray and do penance for the conversion of the world." Oh,聽<em>and take a drink of the spring water</em>.>><a href="http://skepdic.com/lourdes.html">more</a></p> <h3 > </h3> <h3 > </h3> <h3 ><em>sample Mysteries and Science</em> (for kids 9 and up)</h3> <h1>gods</h1> <p><strong>In a nutshell</strong>: <em>Gods are beings with unnatural powers who never die. Some are believed to be the controllers or creators of various parts of nature. Many are thought to require worship and obedience from humans. These gods reward or punish us depending on whether we please them.</em>聽</p> <p>Stories of gods have been told in most societies that we know of going back at least 10,000 years. Gods are portrayed as beings who never die, with mighty powers, able to make nature do what they want. Most gods are pictured as being born and having parents. Some stories show gods as being able to change the weather and cause mighty storms, floods, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions. For the most part, scientists have replaced stories about gods with scientific explanations of how the universe was formed and how humans and other living creatures evolved.>><a href="http://sd4kids.skepdic.com/gods.html">more</a></p> <h3 ><em>a blast from the past</em></h3> <p ><strong>December 9, 2010</strong></p> <h1>Can Science Decide the God Question?</h1> <blockquote> <p class="quote">"...belief in an omnipotent omniscient creator of the world does not in itself have any moral implications鈥攊t's still up to you to decide whether it is right to obey his commands."聽--Steven Weinberg</p> <p class="quote">"...if human beings are anything special, we are the creatures that must ponder and talk." --Stephen Jay Gould</p> </blockquote> <p align="center">1<p> <p>In Stephen Jay Gould's 1997 essay "Nonoverlapping Magisteria," he innocently wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p>The lack of conflict between science and religion arises from a lack of overlap between their respective domains of professional expertise鈥攕cience in the empirical constitution of the universe, and religion in the search for proper ethical values and the spiritual meaning of our lives. The attainment of wisdom in a full life requires extensive attention to both domains鈥攆or a great book tells us that the truth can make us free and that we will live in optimal harmony with our fellows when we learn to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.</p> </blockquote> <p>Then, all hell broke loose.>><http://skepdic.com/essays/godscience.html">more</a></p> </div></webContent> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="right_it"> <div class="search"> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="skepdic.com" /> <input type="text" name="q" maxlength="255" value="" size="20" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <br /> <div class="search_2"> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> Web     <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="skepdic.com" checked="checked" /> Skepdic.com <br><img src="_images/logo_google.gif" alt="Google" width="48" height="19" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-3542920166946725" /> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;" /> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en" /> </form> </div> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><strong>Books by R. T. Carroll </strong></a></p> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><img src="http://skepdic.com/graphics/CTDcover140.jpg" alt="cover The Critical Thinker's Dictionary" width="140" height="212" /></a></p> <p align="right"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0471272426/roberttoddcarrolA/"><img src="_images/book_01.jpg" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" border="0" width="140" height="171" /></a> <br /> <a href="http://skepdic.com/orderinfo.html">Ordering information</a> </p> <h2>OTHER LANGUAGES</h2> <ul class="nav_4"> <li><a href="http://nederlands.skepdic.com/">Dutch</a> </li> <li><a href="http://sdkinderen.skepdic.com/">Dutch voor kinderen</a></li> <li><a href="http://dictionnaire.sceptiques.qc.ca/">French</a> </li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/German/morgenwelt.html">German</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.gr/">Greek</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.szabadgondolkodo.hu/szkeptikus/szotar/">Hungarian</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.vantru.is/efahyggjuordabokin/">Icelandic</a></li> <li><a href="http://italiano.skepdic.com/">Italian</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.genpaku.org/skepticj/">Japanese</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.rathinker.co.kr/skeptic/index.html">Korean</a></li> <li><a href="http://brazil.skepdic.com/">Portuguese</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.ru/">Russian</a></li> <li><a href="http://slovnik.skepdic.com/">Slovak</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepticus.org/dicc/">Spanish</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.vof.se/skepdic/">Swedish</a></li> <li><a href="http://turkish.skepdic.com/">Turkish</a></li> </ul> <p align="right">Print versions available in <a href="http://www.lannoo.be/content/lannoo/wbnl/listview/1/index.jsp?titelcode=24816&fondsid=8" >Dutch</a>, <a href="http://skepdic.com/russian.html">Russian</a>, <a href="http://www.rakkousha.co.jp/info/index.html#2" > Japanese</a>, and <a href="http://www.aladdin.co.kr/shop/wproduct.aspx?isbn=8995876441" >Korean</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.netcancerawareness.org/donate.html"><img src="graphics/ncan.jpg" alt="Neuroendocrine Cancer Awareness Network" width="238" height="108" border="1" /></a></p> <p align="center"><a href="https://netrf.org/donate/"><img src="graphics/netf.jpg" alt="Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation" width="180" height="115" border="1" /></a></p> <p align="center"><a href="https://norcalcarcinet.org/donate"><img src="graphics/norcalcarcinet.jpg" alt="Northern California Carcinoid Network" width="189" height="192" /></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="footer"> <span class="quote">Skepticism is a virtue.</span> --Steven Brill / <em class="quote">Faith is not a virtue.</em> --Bob Carroll</div> </div> <div class="bottom"> This page was designed by <a href="http://www.cristianpopa.com/portfolio-2/">Cristian Popa</a>.</div> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

The Skeptic's Dictionary