Skepticism - how can we measure it?

[kittynh]

This is really hard. Because there are degrees of skeptic belief. Many people believe you have to be an atheist to be a skeptic. I think you can have a skeptic belief about something, many fundie Christians do not believe in UFOs, yet their reasons are based on the Bible. I think to be a skeptic your non belief in something has to be based on science, not another woo woo belief.

Despite what people post here, I also find many people are open to a scientific explaination for something that they thought was paranormal. I've explained to people a few things, like astrology, and they've been very open and changed their beliefs. I would classify them as skeptics because when they learned the facts they were willing to change.

Anyway, it's all who is doing the defining.

 

[Luciana]

This is really hard. Because there are degrees of skeptic belief. Many people believe you have to be an atheist to be a skeptic. I think you can have a skeptic belief about something, many fundie Christians do not believe in UFOs, yet their reasons are based on the Bible. I think to be a skeptic your non belief in something has to be based on science, not another woo woo belief.

Absolutely. I have my own self as an example - I've always been somewhat skeptic. I remember reading a lot about UFOs and thinking... "can be, probably not, who cares"? Astrology was like "I don't think it works, why would celestial bodies influence our lives?? Never had a religion or superstition.

Still, aside from a finely-tuned BS-o-meter, I wasn't really informeda bout any of those things. Maybe a very persuasive case of, say, homeopathy could convince, specially if filled with fake data, which I would not check.

I moved one degree in the skeptic scale when I read Flim Flam. Quite a few others when I read the skepdic as a whole. The last woo woo beliefs I was uncertain of were demolished right there. Now, not only I had the information, I was also ready to judge by myself and interpret critically any other info coming on my way. Travelling to meet Randi is almost the skeptic nirvana.

Being a fundamentalist, on the other hand, is 0 in the Skeptic Scale.

 

[Garrette]

Warning: The following is completely personal opinion without so much as one whit of data to support it; it is based solely on personal observation and uneducated analysis

I think you will run into the same issues as there are in defining political affiliation in the United States. Nearly everyone will happily and with great certainty check a block for Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or WhatHaveYou, but the majority have never really looked into the issues.

Republicans and Democrats are generally such because:

a) Their parents were
b) Their friends during their politically formative years (i.e., college) were
c) It is the norm in their hometown

Digging deep and forcing them to reveal stances on specific issues will, however, reveal that the differences are less numerous and wide than believed. Self-professed Republicans will hold positions normally thought to be Democratic and vice versa.

The parties themselves can also be seen much less along ideological lines as opposed to gotta-get-my-guys-in-power lines.

I think for the majority of skeptics and believers it is the same. I think I'm a skeptic, but I'm far from perfect about it. What makes me different, and many on this forum different, is that I admit it, even if I don't always correct it.

Many believers will demonstrate great skepticism, and many skeptics will demonstrate woo-wooism.

Sorry. Long way to agree with the thoughts of others here and say that it's not clear cut, nor will it become so.