Michael Shermer speaks with
energy and passion of an evangelist, so it's not too surprising to learn that he used to be one. What is surprising is that he has made a 180-degree turn in his approach to belief. As a college student at Pepperdine University, he knocked on doors to spread word of gospel to anyone who would listen. Now he preaches power of skepticism in true sense of word. Like a war hero who becomes an anti-war activist, this turnaround is both curious and inspiring. His story underscores complexity of concept of belief and our need to hold on to some form of validation.
Shermer is publisher of Skeptic Magazine. He is quick to point out that what many people think of as skepticism is really cynicism. Being skeptical has nothing to do with being a grumpy curmudgeon who discounts any idea that disrupts his world view. It is less a position and more an approach using science and reason.
Skeptics are open to looking into anything and everything, but are reluctant to latch on to theories without sufficient evidence to back them up. Skeptics don't sit around trashing ideas of others--that would be a waste of thinking time. Instead, they luxuriate in opportunity to further explore interesting notions.
The motto of Skeptics Society and Skeptic Magazine is a statement made by 17th-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza: "I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."
This is a fabulous approach to life, even though it may require more patience than most of us can muster. If we can't count on any absolute truths and we don't want to get bogged down by muddy thinking of relativism, we've got to do our best to establish what Shermer calls "provisional" truths. He uses word "provisional" a lot to refer to those pretty good truths and almost universal ideas we tend to think of as fairly consistent. Is infanticide bad? Yes, almost always. There could be, in some cultures and in some specific circumstances, ethical reasons to justify infanticide, but we recognize that those are few and far between. Provisional ethics allows for continued discussion and exploration in a way that a black and white view never will.
Shermer was in town recently to talk about third book in his trilogy on power of belief: The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share, Care and Follow Golden Rule. He offered compelling theories and groundbreaking scientific results regarding evolution of human ethics. Thanks to magnetic resonance imaging, we can now see what's going on in brain while we perform certain tasks. It turns out that pleasure centers of our brain "light up" when we engage in activities that are cooperative- sharing, being generous, helping others. Just as though we were eating our favorite comfort foods, getting a massage, or making love, our brains register this activity as highly pleasurable. There is (some) reason to believe that cooperation has evolved as a highly prized survival skill, and thus we are "rewarded" by feeling good about it.
