A Manual for Creating Atheists (32 page)

A medieval Christian philosopher of enormous authority and influence.

Azande

An ethnic group of approximately one million people living in and around central Africa.

Bayes’ Theorem

Provides the probability of an event given measured test probabilities.

Chaerephon

Socrates’s close friend. Chaerephon appears in Plato’s
Apology
,
Charmides
, and
Gorgias
.

Coherence theory of truth

States that a proposition is true if it coheres or fits with other propositions.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to privilege confirming evidence and disregard disconfirming evidence.

Critical thinking

A skill set and an attitude. For a description and definition of the ideal critical thinker, see appendix A.

Cruise, Tom (human body: 1962– ) (Thetan: several trillion years)

American film actor and producer. Awarded Scientology’s Freedom Medal of Valor in 2004.

Delusion

1. The current DSM-IV definition of delusion can be found on page 765.
   
2. German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) offers three criteria for delusion: certainty (someone is absolutely positive their belief is true), incorrigibility (the belief is incapable of revision), and impossibility or falsity of content (bizarre or highly improbable content) (Maher, 2001).
   

Deepak Chopra

Indian-born American. New Age guru. Deepity black belt.

Deepity

A statement that is seemingly profound yet trivial on one level and meaningless on the other.

Defensive posture

Self-protection from criticism, personal shortcomings, whatever challenges one’s worldview, or that which is perceived as threatening.

Doxastic

Belief and reasoning about belief. “Doxastic” comes from the ancient Greek word “doxa,” which means belief.

Doxastic closure

A belief or a belief system that cannot be revised. (Systems of belief and individual beliefs have degrees of closure.)

Doxastic openness

A belief system or belief that can be revised. (Systems of belief and individual beliefs have degrees of openness.)

Empirical claim

A claim about the world.

Enlightenment (New Enlightenment)

“The growing up stage in man’s development, his determination to put away childish things, to stand upon his own two feet, to be no longer under tutelage, and above all, to use his reason and to think for himself” (Thrower, 2000).

Epistemic

Of or related to knowledge or knowing.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge.

Evidence

That which justifies belief and guides one toward truth.

Falsifiable

Capable of being shown false. Usually applied to hypotheses.

Faith

1. Pretending to know things one doesn’t know
   
2. Belief without evidence
   
3. An irrational leap over probabilities
   

Feminism

Equal rights for women.

Foundationalism (also, Foundationalist theory of truth)

Beliefs receive justification from “basic” or “foundational” beliefs.

Four Horsemen

Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. The phrase “Four Horsemen” comes from the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.

God

An undetectable metaphysical entity that caused all of existence to come into being but whose existence was not caused.

Genetic fallacy

The endorsement or condemnation of a claim based upon its past as opposed to its merit. The original source of an idea is or is not a reliable basis for evaluating truth. For example, Massachusetts Representative Michael Capuano favors higher taxation on the wealthy; Marx had the same economic way of thinking; therefore, Capuano is wrong.

Hadith

Actions or statements attributed to the Muslim prophet Muhammad not found in the Koran.

Hermeneutic circle

The impossibility of stepping back from one’s experiences and objectively interpreting a text, work of art, event, or phenomena.

Humanism

A practice and a worldview focusing on human values, concerns, and issues. Humanists come to decisions, particularly moral decisions, completely independent of supernatural considerations.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Approves, monitors, and reviews all research involving human subjects (people).

Intervention (see “Treatment”)

Justification

Sufficient reason to believe.

Knowledge

Justified True Belief (K = J T B.) Knowledge claims must satisfy these three criteria: they must be justified, true, and believed. This formula for knowledge was originally articulated in Plato’s
Theaetetus
.

Knowledge claim

Mind-independent, objective statements of fact about the world.

Logical possibility

A logically possible statement can be asserted without implying a contradiction. For example, “There exists a golden mountain,” is logically possible. There could be a mountain made of gold. However, “A square is a circle,” is not logically possible because the definition of a square precludes it from being a circle. (If you can imagine something, then it doesn’t contradict the laws of logic.)

Luther, Martin (1483–1546)

German theologian. A pivotal figure in the Protestant Reformation.

Manu

From Hindu mythology, the gods created Manu who became the progenitor of humanity.

Meme

A concept that spreads from one person to another.

Multiculturalism

A doctrine stating that a community containing multiple cultures can peacefully coexist.

Metaphysics

The branch of philosophy that studies “being,” “first cause,” and “what there is.”

Pathogenic belief

A belief that directly or indirectly leads to emotional, psychological, or physical pathology.

Pedagogy

The method and practice of teaching.

Pluralism

The peaceful coexistence of two or more states, entities, cultures, or phenomena.

Pythia, The

Also known as the Oracle of Delphi. The Pythia was a priestess at the Temple of Apollo, located on Mount Parnassus, who was a source of wisdom and who made prophecies.

Quantum mechanics

A branch of physics that provides a mathematical description of the behavior and interaction of energy and matter at the atomic and subatomic level.

Relativism

Either there is no absolute truth or it’s not possible to know the absolute truth.

Scientific method

A process by which one can make an objective investigation.

Selection bias

“Selection bias comes in two flavors: (1) self-selection of individuals to participate in an activity or survey, or as a subject in an experimental study; (2) selection of samples or studies by researchers to support a particular hypothesis.” The Skeptics Dictionary:
http://skepdic.com/selectionbias.html

Shermer, Michael (1954–)

The founding publisher of
Skeptic
magazine, the executive director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for
Scientific American
, the host of the Skeptics Society, and bestselling author.

r
mad Bh
gavatam (also, Bh
gavata Pur
na)

A Hindu sacred text. (The story recounted in chapter 3 has to do with Daksha and his daughter Dakshayani, one of whose names is Sati. She is the wife of Shiva the Destroyer and is considered the goddess of marital happiness. She immolates herself on her divine husband’s funeral pyre as a final act of loyalty and is later reincarnated as Paravati. The human woman who does this for her husband is patterning her action after a divine prototype described in one of India’s most ancient texts. The Bh
gavata is sometimes called the fifth Veda—this goes to the idea that its source is ancient.)