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Post by Iron Bonny Shades on Sept 27, 2003 22:53:08 GMT -5
Who are the great agnostics and skeptics that help make society what it is today?
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Post by Wyrmfire on Sept 27, 2003 23:24:48 GMT -5
Agnostics that did something great, or people that were great for being agnostics?
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Post by Iron Bonny Shades on Sept 28, 2003 0:03:57 GMT -5
actually both
for example
harry houdini was a master skeptic who frequently went around debunking the mysticism of his era.
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Post by Wyrmfire on Sept 28, 2003 0:08:29 GMT -5
Well, Thomas Jefferson sorta counts. He was famous for "inventing" the Jeffersonian bible-basically, he physicall cut out the parts that he thought violated the natural order of things (or physics, in other words). When he was elected president, people actually hid their bibles in wells!
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Post by LarsBlitzer on Oct 10, 2003 17:28:59 GMT -5
I'd add on Charles Darwin, Thomas Paine, Friederich Nietze, Karl Marx, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung. I'm probably missing quite a few. I just thought of this link, I kind of forgot about it www.skepdic.com. It mostly points out superstitions, hoaxes, etc. but it lists those who debunked them. For some reason James Randi tends to show up a lot, along with Uri Geller  . |
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Post by Wyrmfire on Oct 10, 2003 22:30:58 GMT -5
Uhhh... hate to break it to you, but Einstein was known as the most deeply religious scientist of his day. He hated Niels Bohr's science because, as he said, "God does not play dice."
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Post by Hussar on Oct 11, 2003 8:58:59 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought so. And Darwin studied to be a clergyman for the Church of England at Cambridge. He was never an athiest or an agnostic. Nor did he ever deny the existence of God.
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Post by Galadon on Oct 11, 2003 11:42:17 GMT -5
Would atheists fall under the title of skeptics.
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Post by Iron Bonny Shades on Oct 12, 2003 17:57:30 GMT -5
for the purpose of this query, yes.
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Post by Draxy on Oct 14, 2003 16:21:23 GMT -5
While Darwin was saavy enough to never directly contest the Church, if you read "Origin of the Species" it is hard not to list him as a serious skeptic at the very least, if not an outright agnostic.
In England, unlike in France, in Darwin's day, you wouldn't get lynched for being an agnostic, but you would NEVER get a decent job again once declared yourself an agnostic. Being an avowed Aetheist might have still gotten you stoned too.
Darwin was a breeder. He was smart enough NOT to put his head in the Lion's roaring mouth.
Draxy
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Post by Anastas on Oct 19, 2003 20:37:51 GMT -5
actually both for example harry houdini was a master skeptic who frequently went around debunking the mysticism of his era. Harry was actually searching for the genuine article, as he wanted to communicate with his mother. Unfortunately, all he ever found were frauds and fakes. |
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Post by Anastas on Oct 19, 2003 20:44:56 GMT -5
James Randi is perhaps the best-known skeptic alive today. He is one of the founders of CSICOP (Critical Scientific Investigation into Claims Of the Paranormal) which publishes the Skeptical Inquirer.
Randi issued a million dollar challenge several years ago to anyone who claimed some sort of paranormal ability. The big name TV psychics have either not answered the challenge or refused it outright.
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