The Demon-Haunted World
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| Author | Carl Sagan |
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| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House / Ballantine Books |
| Released | 1996 / 1997 |
| Media type | Hardcover / Paperback |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-394-53512-X / ISBN 0-345-40946-9 |
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a book by Carl Sagan intended to explain the scientific method to laypersons, and to encourage people to learn critical or skeptical thinking. It explains methods to help distinguish between ideas that are considered valid science, and ideas that can be considered pseudoscience. Sagan states that when new ideas are offered for consideration, they should be tested by means of skeptical thinking, and should stand up to rigorous questioning.
Sagan said if a new idea continues in existence after an examination of the propositions, it should then be acknowledged as a supposition. Skeptical thinking essentially is a means to construct, understand, reason, and recognize valid and invalid arguments. Wherever possible, there must be independent validation of the concepts whose truth should be proved. He believed that reason and logic would succeed once the truth is known. Conclusions emerging from a premise, and the acceptability of the premise should not be discounted or accepted because of bias.
Sagan presents a set of tools for skeptical thinking which he calls the "baloney detection kit". Skeptical thinking consists both of constructing a reasoned argument and recognizing a fallacious or fraudulent one. In order to identify a fallacious argument, Sagan suggests the employment of such tools as independent confirmation of facts, quantification and the use of Occam's Razor. Sagan's "baloney detection kit" also provided tools for detecting "the most common fallacies of logic and rhetoric", such as argument from authority and statistics of small numbers.
Through these tools, the benefits of a critical mind and the self-correcting nature of science can take place. Sagan provides a skeptical analysis of several kinds of superstition, fraud, pseudoscience and religious beliefs, such as gods, witches, UFOs, ESP and faith healing.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Quote
- "It's perilous and foolhardy for the average citizen to remain ignorant about global warming, say, or ozone depletion, air pollution, toxic and radioactive waste, acid rain, topsoil erosion, tropical deforestation, exponential population growth."
- "Honest religion, more familiar than its critics with the distortions and absurdities perpetuated in its name, has an active interest in encouraging a healthy skepticism for its own purposes. ... There is the possibility for religion and science to forge a real partnership against pseudo-science. Strangely, I think it would soon be engaged also in opposing pseudo-religion."
- "Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time ... when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstitions and darkness."
[edit] Reference
- Sagan, Carl, "The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark". Ballantine Books, March 1997 ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs. 1996 hardback edition: Random House, ISBN 0-394-53512-X, xv+457 pages plus addenda insert (some printings).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Schult, Jeff, "The Case for Science". American Reporter.
- Schmidt, John, "Sagan's Handbook of Skepticism and Wonder". Review of The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.
- Review by Tal Cohen
- Review by 2Think.org
- Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit at Operation Clambake
