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<div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Philosophical position that appears to be skeptic but is actually dogmatic</div> <p class="mw-empty-elt"> </p><p><b>Pseudoskepticism</b> (<a href="/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#Hard_and_soft_"c"" title="American and British English spelling differences">also spelled as</a> <b>pseudoscepticism</b>) is a philosophical or scientific position that appears to be that of <a href="/wiki/Skepticism" title="Skepticism">skepticism</a> or <a href="/wiki/Scientific_skepticism" title="Scientific skepticism">scientific skepticism</a> but in reality is a form of <a href="/wiki/Dogma" title="Dogma">dogmatism</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Nineteenth_and_early_twentieth_centuries">Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>An early use of the word was in self-denigration: on 31 August 1869, <a href="/wiki/Switzerland" title="Switzerland">Swiss</a> philosopher <a href="/wiki/Henri-Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Amiel" title="Henri-Frédéric Amiel">Henri-Frédéric Amiel</a> wrote in his diary: </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>My instinct is in harmony with the pessimism of Buddha and of <a href="/wiki/Schopenhauer" class="mw-redirect" title="Schopenhauer">Schopenhauer</a>. It is a doubt which never leaves me, even in my moments of religious fervor. Nature is indeed for me a <a href="/wiki/Maya_(illusion)" class="mw-redirect" title="Maya (illusion)">Maïa</a>; and I look at her, as it were, with the eyes of an artist. My intelligence remains skeptical. What, then, do I believe in? I do not know. And what is it I hope for? It would be difficult to say. Folly! I believe in goodness, and I hope that good will prevail. Deep within this ironical and disappointed being of mine there is a child hidden — a frank, sad, simple creature, who believes in the ideal, in love, in holiness, and all heavenly superstitions. A whole millennium of idyls sleeps in my heart; I am a pseudo-skeptic, a pseudo-scoffer.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p>It soon acquired its usual meaning where a claimed skeptic is accused of excessive sureness in turning initial doubts into certainties. In 1908 <a href="/wiki/Henry_Louis_Mencken" class="mw-redirect" title="Henry Louis Mencken">Henry Louis Mencken</a> wrote on <a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>'s criticism of philosopher <a href="/wiki/David_Strauss" title="David Strauss">David Strauss</a> that: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Strauss had been a preacher but had renounced the cloth and set up shop as a critic of Christianity. He had labored with good intentions, no doubt, but the net result of all his smug agnosticism was that his disciples were as self-satisfied, bigoted, and prejudiced in the garb of agnostics as they had been before as Christians. Nietzsche's eye saw this and in the first of his little pamphlets "David Strauss, der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller" ("David Strauss, the Confessor and the Writer"), he bore down on Strauss's bourgeoise pseudo-skepticism most savagely. This was 1873.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p>Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Frederick L. Will used the term "pseudo-skepticism" in 1942. <a href="/wiki/Alasdair_MacIntyre" title="Alasdair MacIntyre">Alasdair MacIntyre</a> writes: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>[Frederick] Will was no exception. He began as an analytical philosopher, distinguishing different uses of language with the aim of showing that certain traditional philosophical problems need no longer trouble us, once we have understood how to make the relevant linguistic distinctions. The enemies were two: the philosophical skeptic who poses these false problems and the philosopher who thinks that the skeptic needs to be answered. So in "Is there a Problem of Induction?" (<i>Journal of Philosophy</i>, 1942) it is two senses of "know" that are to be distinguished: "All the uneasiness, the pseudo-skepticism and the pseudo-problem of induction, would never appear if it were possible to keep clear that 'know' in the statement that we do not know statements about the future is employed in a very special sense, not at all its ordinary one.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p><a href="/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame" title="University of Notre Dame">Notre Dame</a> Professor of English, John E. Sitter used the term in 1977 in a discussion of <a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope">Alexander Pope</a>: "Pope's intent, I believe, is to chasten the reader's skepticism — the pseudo-skepticism of the overly confident 'you' ... "<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Truzzi">Truzzi</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Truzzi"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1987, <a href="/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi" title="Marcello Truzzi">Marcello Truzzi</a> revived the term specifically for arguments which use scientific-sounding language to disparage or refute given beliefs, theories, or claims, but which in fact fail to follow the precepts of conventional <a href="/wiki/Skepticism" title="Skepticism">scientific skepticism</a>. He argued that scientific skepticism is <a href="/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">agnostic</a> to new ideas, making no claims about them but waiting for them to satisfy a burden of proof before granting them validity. Pseudoskepticism, by contrast, involves "negative hypotheses"—theoretical assertions that some belief, theory, or claim is factually wrong—without satisfying the burden of proof that such negative theoretical assertions would require.<sup id="cite_ref-truzzi1_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-truzzi1-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In 1987, while working as a professor of <a href="/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a> at <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Michigan_University" title="Eastern Michigan University">Eastern Michigan University</a>, Truzzi gave the following description of pseudoskeptics in the journal <i>Zetetic Scholar</i> (which he founded): </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>In science, the burden of proof falls upon the claimant; and the more extraordinary a claim, the heavier is the burden of proof demanded. The true skeptic takes an agnostic position, one that says the claim is not proved rather than disproved. He asserts that the claimant has not borne the burden of proof and that science must continue to build its <a href="/wiki/Cognitive_map" title="Cognitive map">cognitive map</a> of reality without incorporating the extraordinary claim as a new "fact." Since the true skeptic does not assert a claim, he has no burden to prove anything. He just goes on using the established theories of "conventional science" as usual. But if a critic asserts that there is evidence for disproof, that he has a negative hypothesis—saying, for instance, that a seeming <a href="/wiki/Psi_(parapsychology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Psi (parapsychology)">psi</a> <a href="/wiki/Experiment" title="Experiment">result</a> was actually due to an artifact—he is making a claim and therefore also has to bear a burden of proof... </p><p>Both critics and proponents need to learn to think of <a href="/wiki/Adjudication" title="Adjudication">adjudication</a> in science as more like that found in the law courts, imperfect and with varying degrees of proof and evidence. Absolute truth, like absolute justice, is seldom obtainable. We can only do our best to approximate them. </p> <div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Marcello Truzzi, "On Pseudo-Skepticism", <i>Zetetic Scholar</i>, 12/13, pp3-4, 1987<sup id="cite_ref-truzzi1_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-truzzi1-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <p>Truzzi attributed the following characteristics to pseudoskeptics:<sup id="cite_ref-truzzi1_5-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-truzzi1-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ol><li>Denying, when only doubt has been established</li> <li>Double standards in the application of criticism</li> <li>The tendency to discredit rather than investigate</li> <li>Presenting insufficient evidence or proof</li> <li>Assuming criticism requires no burden of proof</li> <li>Making unsubstantiated counter-claims</li> <li>Counter-claims based on plausibility rather than empirical evidence</li> <li>Suggesting that unconvincing evidence provides grounds for completely dismissing a claim</li></ol> <p>He characterized true skepticism as:<sup id="cite_ref-truzzi1_5-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-truzzi1-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ol><li>Acceptance of doubt when neither assertion nor denial has been established</li> <li>No burden of proof to take an agnostic position</li> <li>Agreement that the corpus of established knowledge must be based on what is proved, but recognising its incompleteness</li> <li>Even-handedness in requirement for proofs, whatever their implication</li> <li>Accepting that a failure of a proof in itself proves nothing</li> <li>Continuing examination of the results of experiments even when flaws are found</li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Subsequent_usage">Subsequent usage</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Subsequent usage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Susan_Blackmore" title="Susan Blackmore">Susan Blackmore</a>, who lost her initial belief in <a href="/wiki/Parapsychology" title="Parapsychology">parapsychology</a> and in 1991 became a <a href="/wiki/CSICOP" class="mw-redirect" title="CSICOP">CSICOP</a> fellow, later described what she termed the "worst kind of pseudoskepticism": </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>There are some members of the skeptics’ groups who clearly believe they know the right answer prior to inquiry. They appear not to be interested in weighing alternatives, investigating strange claims, or trying out psychic experiences or altered states for themselves (heaven forbid!), but only in promoting their own particular belief structure and cohesion.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p><a href="/wiki/Hugo_Anthony_Meynell" title="Hugo Anthony Meynell">Hugo Anthony Meynell</a> from the Department of Religious Studies at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Calgary" title="University of Calgary">University of Calgary</a>, labels the "extreme position that all significant evidence supporting paranormal phenomena is a result of deception or lies" as pseudoskepticism.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>While Truzzi's characterization was aimed at the holders of majority views whom he considered were excessively impatient of minority opinions, the term has been used to describe advocates of minority intellectual positions who engage in pseudoskeptical behavior when they characterize themselves as "skeptics" despite <a href="/wiki/Cherry_picking_(fallacy)" class="mw-redirect" title="Cherry picking (fallacy)">cherry picking</a> evidence that conforms to a preexisting belief. Thus according to Richard Cameron Wilson, some advocates of <a href="/wiki/AIDS_denial" class="mw-redirect" title="AIDS denial">AIDS denial</a> are indulging in "bogus scepticism" when they argue in this way.<sup id="cite_ref-Wilson_NS_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Wilson_NS-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Wilson argues that the characteristic feature of false skepticism is that it "centres not on an impartial search for the truth, but on the defence of a preconceived ideological position".<sup id="cite_ref-Wilson_fooled_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Wilson_fooled-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Examples include <a href="/wiki/Climate_change_denial" title="Climate change denial">climate change denial</a> and <a href="/wiki/Moon_landing_denial" class="mw-redirect" title="Moon landing denial">Moon landing denial</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">Agnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance" title="Argument from ignorance">Argument from ignorance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Debunker" title="Debunker">Debunker</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Denialism" title="Denialism">Denialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pseudoscience" title="Pseudoscience">Pseudoscience</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pseudorationalism" title="Pseudorationalism">Pseudorationalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scientism" title="Scientism">Scientism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_New_Inquisition" title="The New Inquisition">The New Inquisition</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes_and_references">Notes and references</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Notes and references"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width reflist-columns-2"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Charles Dudley Warner, Editor, <i>Library Of The World's Best Literature Ancient And Modern, Vol. II</i>, 1896. Online at Project Gutenberg (e.g. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12788/12788-8.txt">here</a>)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken, <i>The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche</i> (1908) publ. T.F. Unwin. Reprinted in <i>Friedrich Nietzsche</i>, Originally published: Boston : Luce and Co., 1913. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_r71AzHvf64C&q=%22pseudo+skepticism%22&pg=PA30">p.30</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Alasdair MacIntyre "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://eastanglia.academia.edu/KennethRWestphal/Books/8825/F._L._Will_Pragmatism_and_Realism">Foreword</a>" to the book <i>Pragmatism and Realism</i> by Frederick L. Will (1997) quoting his earlier paper "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2017379">Is There a Problem of Induction?</a>" <i>Journal of Philosophy</i>, Vol. 39, No. 19 (September 10, 1942), pp. 505-513</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">John E. Sitter, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/450077">The Argument of Pope's Epistle to Cobham</a>" <i>SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900</i>, Vol. 17, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth Century (Summer, 1977), pp. 435-449</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-truzzi1-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-truzzi1_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-truzzi1_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-truzzi1_5-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-truzzi1_5-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFTruzzi1987" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi" title="Marcello Truzzi">Truzzi, Marcello</a> (1987). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.anomalist.com/commentaries/pseudo.html">"On Pseudo-Skepticism"</a>. <i>Zetetic Scholar</i> (12/13): 3–4<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">October 10,</span> 2008</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Zetetic+Scholar&rft.atitle=On+Pseudo-Skepticism&rft.issue=12%2F13&rft.pages=3-4&rft.date=1987&rft.aulast=Truzzi&rft.aufirst=Marcello&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anomalist.com%2Fcommentaries%2Fpseudo.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APseudoskepticism" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sandiego/access/289894041.html?dids=289894041:289894041&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+15,+2003&author=&pub=The+San+Diego+Union+-+Tribune&desc=MARCELLO+TRUZZI+">|+Helped+form+the+Committee+for+the+Scientific+Investigation+of+Claims+of+the+Paranormal;+67&pqatl=google "Marcello Truzzi: Helped form the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal"</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot"><span title=" Dead link tagged July 2024">dead link</span></a></i><span style="visibility:hidden; color:transparent; padding-left:2px">‍</span>]</span></sup>, <i><a href="/wiki/The_San_Diego_Union_Tribune" class="mw-redirect" title="The San Diego Union Tribune">The San Diego Union Tribune</a></i>, February 15, 2003</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.laweekly.com/2007-10-11/art-books/marla-vs-pollock-who-s-the-fraudiest/">"Marla vs. Pollock: Who’s the Fraudiest?"</a> <i><a href="/wiki/LA_Weekly" title="LA Weekly">LA Weekly</a></i>, October 10, 2007</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2877850/The-plain-truth-about-legal.html">"The plain truth about legal truth"</a> <i><a href="/wiki/Harvard_Journal_of_Law_%26_Public_Policy" title="Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy">Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy</a></i>, January 1, 2003</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">JE Kennedy, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://jeksite.org/psi/jp03.pdf">The Capricious, Actively Evasive, Unsustainable Nature of Psi: A Summary and Hypotheses</a>", <i>The Journal of Parapsychology</i>, Volume 67, pp. 53–74, 2003. See Note 1 page 64 quoting Blackmore, S. J. (1994). Women skeptics. In L. Coly & R. White (Eds.), <i>Women and parapsychology</i> (pp. 234–236). New York: Parapsychology Foundation.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Michael Stoeber, Hugo Anthony Meynell, <i>Critical Reflections on the Paranormal</i>, SUNY Press, 1996, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7914-3063-4" title="Special:BookSources/0-7914-3063-4">0-7914-3063-4</a>, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7914-3063-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7914-3063-7">978-0-7914-3063-7</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=c_A_wfFe-CoC&dq=Pseudo-skepticism&pg=PA16">page 16</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Wilson_NS-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Wilson_NS_11-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2008/09/evidence-sceptic-hiv-bogus">Richard Wilson, "Against the Evidence"</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/New_Statesman" title="New Statesman">New Statesman</a></i>, 18 September 2008</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Wilson_fooled-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Wilson_fooled_12-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Richard C. Wilson, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ARNNLgAACAAJ">"Don't get fooled again: the sceptic's guide to life"</a>, <i>Icon</i>, 2008, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-84831-014-5" title="Special:BookSources/1-84831-014-5">1-84831-014-5</a>, 240 pages</span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl 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title="Religious skepticism">Religious</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical philosophies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Academic_Skepticism" class="mw-redirect" title="Academic Skepticism">Academic Skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aj%C3%B1ana" title="Ajñana">Ajñana</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cartesian_doubt" title="Cartesian doubt">Cartesian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charvaka" title="Charvaka">Charvaka</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humeanism" title="Humeanism">Humeanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pyrrhonism" title="Pyrrhonism">Pyrrhonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Solipsism" title="Solipsism">Solipsism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical philosophers</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Pyrrho" title="Pyrrho">Pyrrho</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Timon_of_Phlius" title="Timon of Phlius">Timon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arcesilaus" title="Arcesilaus">Arcesilaus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lacydes_of_Cyrene" title="Lacydes of Cyrene">Lacydes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carneades" title="Carneades">Carneades</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clitomachus_(philosopher)" title="Clitomachus (philosopher)">Clitomachus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philo_of_Larissa" title="Philo of Larissa">Philo of Larissa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero">Cicero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aenesidemus" title="Aenesidemus">Aenesidemus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agrippa_the_Skeptic" title="Agrippa the Skeptic">Agrippa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sextus_Empiricus" title="Sextus Empiricus">Sextus Empiricus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_De_Montaigne" class="mw-redirect" title="Michel De Montaigne">Montaigne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes" title="René Descartes">René Descartes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">David Hume</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical scenarios</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Acatalepsy" title="Acatalepsy">Acatalepsy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat" title="Brain in a vat">Brain in a vat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dream_argument" title="Dream argument">Dream argument</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evil_demon" title="Evil demon">Evil genius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Five-minute_hypothesis" class="mw-redirect" title="Five-minute hypothesis">Five-minute hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/M%C3%BCnchhausen_trilemma" title="Münchhausen trilemma">Münchhausen trilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_the_criterion" title="Problem of the criterion">Problem of the criterion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_induction" title="Problem of induction">Problem of induction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis" title="Simulation hypothesis">Simulation hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wax_argument" title="Wax argument">Wax argument</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Responses</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Here_is_one_hand" title="Here is one hand">Here is one hand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_externalism" title="Semantic externalism">Semantic externalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reliabilism" title="Reliabilism">Process reliabilism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epistemic_closure" title="Epistemic closure">Epistemic closure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contextualism" title="Contextualism">Contextualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relativism" title="Relativism">Relativism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Lists_about_skepticism" class="mw-redirect" title="Lists about skepticism">Lists</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_books_about_skepticism" title="List of books about skepticism">List of books about skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_scientific_skeptics" title="List of scientific skeptics">List of scientific skeptics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_conferences" title="List of skeptical conferences">List of skeptical conferences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_magazines" title="List of skeptical magazines">List of skeptical magazines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_organizations" title="List of skeptical organizations">List of skeptical organizations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_podcasts" title="List of skeptical podcasts">List of skeptical podcasts</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&oldid=1243221299">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pseudoskepticism&oldid=1243221299</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Philosophy_of_science" title="Category:Philosophy of science">Philosophy of science</a></li><li><a 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