Scientific skeptics

The skeptical movement (also spelled sceptical) is a modern social movement based on the idea of scientific skepticism (also called rational skepticism). Scientific skepticism is the application of skeptical philosophy, critical thinking skills, and knowledge of science and its methods to empirical claims, while remaining agnostic or neutral to non-empirical claims (except those that directly impact the practice of science). The movement has the goal of investigating claims made on fringe topics and determining if they are supported by empirical research and are reproducible, as part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge". The process followed is sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry.

Roots of the movement can be found in the 19th century when questions began to be publicly raised regarding the unquestioned acceptance of claims of spiritism, various widely held superstitions, and pseudoscience. Medical quackery was also targeted by publications such as the Dutch Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (1881).

Using as a template the Belgian organization founded in 1949, Comité Para, Americans Paul Kurtz and Marcello Truzzi founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), in Amherst, New York in 1976. Now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), the work of this organization has inspired the formation of similar groups worldwide.

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