Editing Scientific skepticism (section)

=== Historical roots ===

According to skeptic author [[Daniel Loxton]], "skepticism is a story without a beginning or an end." His 2013 article in ''[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine "Why Is There a Skeptical Movement" claims a history of two millennia of paranormal skepticism.<ref name="Loxton2013">{{Cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/downloads/Why-Is-There-a-Skeptical-Movement.pdf |title=Why Is There a Skeptical Movement? |author=Daniel Loxton |publisher=[[The Skeptics Society]] website |page=3 |date=2013 |access-date=24 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807152309/http://www.skeptic.com/downloads/Why-Is-There-a-Skeptical-Movement.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2014 |author-link=Daniel Loxton }}</ref> He is of the opinion that the practice, problems, and central concepts extend all the way to antiquity and refers to a debunking tale as told [[Bel and the Dragon#Bel|in some versions of the Old Testament]], where the Prophet Daniel exposes a tale of a "living" statue as a scam.<ref>Daniel Loxton, Why Is There a Skeptical Movement? 2013 p. 24, reference 91</ref> According to Loxton, throughout history, there are further examples of individuals practicing critical inquiry and writing books or performing publicly against particular frauds and popular superstitions, including people like [[Lucian|Lucian of Samosata]] (2nd century), [[Michel de Montaigne]] (16th century), [[Thomas Ady]] and [[Thomas Browne]] (17th century), [[Antoine Lavoisier]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]] (18th century), many different philosophers, scientists and magicians throughout the 19th and early 20th century up until and after [[Harry Houdini]]. However, skeptics banding together in societies that research the paranormal and fringe science is a modern phenomenon.<ref name="Loxton2013"/>

Two early important works influential to the skeptical movement were [[Daniel Webster Hering]]'s ''Foibles and Fallacies of Science'' (1924) and D. H. Rawcliffe's ''[[The Psychology of the Occult]]''.<ref name="Loxton2013"/>

Loxton mentions the Belgian [[Comité Para]] (1949) as the oldest "broad mandate" skeptical organization.<ref name="Loxton2013" /> Although it was preceded by the Dutch [[Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij]] (VtdK) (1881), which is therefore considered the oldest skeptical organization by others,<ref name="Quackometer">{{Cite news |url=http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/08/dutch-sceptics-have-bogus-libel.html |title=Dutch Sceptics Have 'Bogus' Libel Decision Overturned On Human Rights Grounds |author=Andy Lewis |publisher=The Quackometer |date=3 August 2009 |access-date=24 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213174338/http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/08/dutch-sceptics-have-bogus-libel.html |archive-date=13 February 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Standaard">{{cite news |url=http://www.standaard.be/cnt/ip1dpjjp |title=Masseuse met kapsones |newspaper=[[De Standaard]] |date=21 June 2007 |access-date=24 May 2014 |language=nl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114062240/http://www.standaard.be/cnt/ip1dpjjp |archive-date=14 January 2015 }}</ref> the VtdK only focuses on fighting quackery, and thus has a 'narrow mandate'. The Comité Para was partly formed as a response to a predatory industry of bogus psychics who were exploiting the grieving relatives of people who had gone missing during the [[World War II|Second World War]].<ref name="Loxton2013" /> In contrast, [[Michael Shermer]] traces the origins of the modern scientific skeptical movement to [[Martin Gardner]]'s 1952 book ''[[Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/about_us/manifesto/ |title=A Skeptical Manifesto |author=Michael Shermer |author-link=Michael Shermer |publisher=The Skeptics Society website |date=1997 |access-date=24 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626213613/http://www.skeptic.com/about_us/manifesto/ |archive-date=26 June 2014 }}</ref>

In 1968, the [[Association française pour l'information scientifique|French Association for Scientific Information]] (AFIS) was founded. AFIS strives to promote science against those who deny its cultural value, abuse it for criminal purposes or as a cover for [[quackery]]. According to AFIS, science itself cannot solve humanity's problems, nor can one solve them without using the [[scientific method]]. It maintains that people should be informed about scientific and technical advancements and the problems it helps to solve. Its magazine, ''Science et pseudo-sciences'', attempts to distribute scientific information in a language that everyone can understand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/spip.php?article23 |title=Notre histoire |author=Jean-Pierre Thomas |work=Website AFIS |publisher=AFIS |access-date=3 April 2015 |language=fr |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706105911/http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/spip.php?article23 |archive-date=6 July 2014 }}</ref>