ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SKEPTICAL

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SKEPTICAL!

Spring 2006

Dr. William S. Abruzzi

106d Ettinger Bldg.

Office: (484) 664-3437

Class Time:	T/Th: 3:00 - 4:15

Office Hours:	T/Th: 2:00 - 3:00 W: 12:00 - 1:00

Required Textbooks:

1. William L. Rathje, Cullen Murphy, Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage, University of Arizona Press. 2001.

2. Bjorn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge University Press. (2001).

3. David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A History of the World’s Most Controversial Surgery. Basic Books (2000).

4. Emmanuel Babatunde, Women’s Rights versus Women’s Rites. Africa World Press, Inc. (1998)

5. Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Dell; (1983)

6. Paula Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ : The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ, Second Edition. Yale University Press (2000)

7. Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels. Vintage; (1989)

Course Description:

People in all societies, including the United States, possess beliefs which they assume are true and which they seldom question. These beliefs are generally acquired through family, school, church, government and the media. Such beliefs often gain uncritical acceptance because their validity is reinforced through all of these institutions simultaneously. However, many generally accepted beliefs contain little, if any, validity. Indeed, we need only examine the many beliefs that were formerly assumed to be true in order to caution us against accepting our current beliefs too uncritically. General principles of scientific reasoning exist which can be applied to critically evaluate the validity of commonly held beliefs. This course will employ these principles to examine several widely accepted beliefs in our own society in order to determine the extent to which these beliefs survive the scrutiny of critical evaluation. As an essential part of the critical evaluation process, the course will also explore the reasons why erroneous beliefs endure in the face of evidence to the contrary. In particular, it will examine the way in which the interests of individuals and groups contribute to the persistence of false beliefs. The purpose of the course is to demonstrate the value of approaching all beliefs from a skeptical perspective.

Teaching Methods:

A variety of teaching techniques will be used throughout the course, including lectures, class discussions, small-group discussions, films, and out-of-class assignments. In addition, reading assignments will be given in the form of handouts distributed in class, Internet sites, email messages as well as articles audio and video tapes placed on reserve in the Trexler Library. These different sources of information and methods of teaching are used to complement and reinforce each other in order to increase the depth and the scope of the student's understanding of the material included within the course.

Grading Policy:

1. ALL assignments must be completed at the scheduled time. Late essays will only be accepted in the event of an emergency and will receive a 10-point reduction in grade for each day they are late, i.e., a score of 80 will be recorded as a 70, 60, 50, etc. (Computer problems or printer dysfunction are NOT valid excuses for a late paper. They indicate that the student waited until the very last minute to complete an assignment.) Similarly, incomplete course grades will be reduced by 10 points when they are completed. The grade on any assignment not completed will be zero. Plagiarized assignments will also receive a grade of zero.

2. Attendance will not be taken, but absence from class is NOT an acceptable excuse for a student's failure to complete an assignment. It is the student's responsibility to obtain the necessary information on days that he or she misses class. In addition, a student who regularly misses class cannot expect special consideration in the event of poor grades.

4. In the final analysis, responsibility for completing all course requirements rests with the student. If the student has any doubt on any matter regarding the course, he or she should contact the instructor BEFORE the problem becomes insurmountable. One of the benefits of the small size of the Muhlenberg Campus is the potential that exist for easy faculty-student contact.

5, Twenty percent (20%) of a student’s grade in the course is based on participation. Each student in the class begins with a "C" (73) for participation, and their individual grade increases or decreases depending upon the quality of their participation. I expect students to attend ALL classes. While I don’t grade down for one or two classes missed, excessive absences result in a reduced grade for participation. (Obviously, if a student is not in class, participation for that day is zero.) I assign a higher participation grade for those students who contribute positively to class discussions or who discuss issues with me in my office or through email. Conversely, I assign a lower grade for those students who come to class unprepared, who do not participate in class discussions, or whose classroom behavior is inappropriate or disruptive.

2. Plagiarism constitutes a violation of the Academic Behavior Code and will be dealt with VERY STRICTLY. Faculty in the Sociology and Anthropology Department treats plagiarism cases very seriously. Depending on the nature of the plagiarism, a student could receive a failing grade for the course; be referred to the Dean's Office for judicial review; and have a "VF" (violation of Academic Behavior Code) grade entered on their transcripts. If a student is in doubt about a specific situation, it is his or her responsibility to consult the instructor or some other appropriate person (such as a librarian or writing tutor) for clarification.

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First Year Seminar

Spring 2006

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WEEK OF:

TOPIC

READING ASSIGNMENTS*

1-17 & 1-24

Introduction: Learning to Be Skeptical

Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. -- Ambrose Bierce

Declaration of War on the New Age.

1. Chief Seattle's 1854 Speech

2. Mander, "What You Don't Know about Indians." (R)

3. Hughes, "The Unspoiled Continent." Chapter 1 in American Indian Ecology. (R)

4. Deloria, "Indians Today, the Real and the Unreal", Chapter 1 in Custer Died for Your Sins. (R)

5. Goodrich, Attack on the Kiowa.

6. Susan Jeffers, Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. (R)

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7. Krech, "Introduction," The Ecological Indian.

8. Abruzzi, The Myth of Chief Seattle.

9. Smith, For All Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life.

Film: "Plastic Shamans, White Medicine

Men" (R)

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1-31

Baloney Detection

THE NEW LOGIC: It would be nice if it worked. Ergo, it will work." --H.L. Menken

Bread Is Dangerous !

Road Rage!

Dihydrogen Monoxide Alert

Snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Page

Skepticism.net

"A concern with knowing the world, rather than advocating a view of the world because it confirms some political, ideological, or religious project, has always been fundamental to scientific philosophy."

--Lawrence Kuznar (1997)

Intelligent Falling Theory

1. Holmes, It's Awful! It's Terrible! It's . . . Never Mind

2. Onishi, "African Numbers, Problems and Number Problems."

3. Logging and Deforestation

4. Schenkman, "Shrines" & "Freedom and Democracy" (R)

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5. Sagan, The Burden of Skepticism

6. Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection.

7. Thagard, Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience.

8. Feder, Epistemology: How You Know What You Know.

9. Lastrucci, "What Science Is." (R)

Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit

Hill's Criteria of Causality

Occam's Razor

According to a Harris poll taken on August 12, 1998, Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83%) as in evolution (28%). (NewYorkTimes)

Creationism Explained

"The aim of scientific research is to formulate explanatory theories which are: (1) predictive (or retrodictive), (2) testable (or falsifiable), (3) parsimonious, (4) of broad scope, and (5) integratable or cumulative within a coherent and expanding corpus of theories."

--Marvin Harris (1994)

"Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves."

--Eric Hoffer

U.S. Forest Facts

1.    About 33% of the U.S. land area, or 298 million ha (737 million acres), is forest land.

2.    The nation's forest land area is still about two-thirds the size it was in the year 1600, in spite of the conversion of 370 million acres of forest land to other uses, principally to agriculture.

3.    More trees are growing in America's forests today than at any time since the early 1900's.

4.    In 1900, forest growth rates were a fraction of harvest. Today, overall annual forest growth exceeds harvest by 37%.

5.    Net annual forest growth has increased 62% since 1952, and total growth per acre has increased 71%.

6.    Nationally, standing timber volume per acre in U.S. forests is 30% greater today than it was in 1952.

7.    On a per acre basis, net annual tree growth in the U.S. is 52 cubic feet compared with 27 in Canada and 24 in Russia.

8.    Annual growth in National Forests now exceeds harvest by more than 55%.

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SOURCE: The Bugwood Network (The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forest Resources and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)

"Some people have this vision -especially back East- that we're running out of trees. We're not running out of trees. We're running out of agreement on what to do with all these trees."

--Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

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2-7 & 2-14

That's a Bunch of Garbage!

No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. -- Winston Churchill

Yuppie Environmentalism

1. Rathje, Cullen Murphy, Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage.

2. Tierney, Recycling is Garbage.

3. Kummer, Carried Away.

“The most critical part of the garbage problem in America is that our notions about the creation and disposal of garbage are often riddled with myth.” --William Rathje