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WHO IS ENTITLED TO BE CALLED A 'SKEPTIC'?
I totally agree with the late Professor
Truzzi that a skeptic is one who ‘doubts’ NOT one who ‘denies.’
To-day’s usage of the word skeptic
refers to a critic who ‘denies’ – the non-belief approach.
The original meaning of a skeptic was one who doubts, one who questions,
one who uses critical thinking - certainly NOT one who DENIES. I submit
that the legitimate description of a closed-minded skeptic is a 'materialist.'
Throughout the twentieth century the
negatively prejudiced critics hijacked the word 'skeptic' and used it
to mean someone who actually denies anything than can be denied.
The skeptics became divided into at least
two camps: the closed-minded and the open-minded skeptics.
The closed-minded skeptics are similar
to the materialists – those who actually DENY beliefs: unless
you can see it, touch it, hear it, taste or smell it – classical
materialism – then it cannot be accepted.
Basically, the open minded skeptic, as
I am, is someone who initially does not accept any belief, but on investigating
accepts a particular phenomenon if it can be ‘proved,’ can
be independently substantiated.
By proved – if a given formula
is given and yields the same results over time and space, that phenomena
is accepted and removes all skepticism about the phenomenon.
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