October 28, 2005
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Skeptics’ Anniversary
From AP’s “Today in History” for Oct. 28:
“On this date:
In 1636, Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts.”In the spring of 1960, Harvard sent to all
incoming freshmen a reading list consisting, as I recall, of two books:1. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, by Martin Gardner (Dover, 1957), and
2. A book on evolution, whose title I do not recall. Perhaps it was Apes, Angels, and Victorians, by William Irvine (McGraw-Hill, 1955).
I found in later years that Gardner was not to be trusted (certainly
not on the subject of mathematics– he never had even one college
course in the subject). Darwin, however, still seems eminently
reasonable.For my own views on the religion of Scientism advocated by many at Harvard and by those who admire Gardner, see
For a musical version of some related views, see
For an update on the religion of Scientism, see yesterday’s Newsday:
Skeptics converge to take on religion and morality“The congress coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Council for
Secular Humanism, the arm of the center dedicated to promoting a
nonreligious philosophy.”The word “nonreligious” here should, since Scientism itself
amounts to a religion, be viewed with a great deal of skepticism.
