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Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

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The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal or CSICOP is an organization formed to encourage open minded, critical investigation of paranormal and pseudoscience claims from a responsible, scientific point of view. It is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1976.

According to CSICOP's charter, the organzation exists to pursue six major goals:

  1. Maintain a network of people interested in critically examining paranormal, fringe science, and other claims, and in contributing to consumer education.
  2. Prepare bibliographies of published materials that carefully examine such claims.
  3. Encourage research by objective and impartial inquiry in areas where it is needed.
  4. Convene conferences and meetings.
  5. Publish articles that examine claims of the paranormal.
  6. Do not reject claims on a priori grounds, antecedent to inquiry, but examine them objectively and carefully.

As the publishers of the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, the committee disseminates information about results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public.

CSICOP's investgations into claims of paranormal phenomena have been largely critical and unrelenting, and its statements and publications debunking its targets have been quite harsh at times. This has caused the organization's critics to accuse CSICOP of having a "holier-than-thou" attitude, and that it alleged has a fixed opinion that paranormal phenomena do not exist, regardless of any evidence presentend to them that such phenomena do indeed exist. CSICOP's response to these criticisms has been to state that no definite, peer-reviewed evidence of the existence of paranormal phenomena has ever been presented, and each and every instance of claimed paranormal activity has failed to stand under scientific scrutiny.

CSICOP also states that the various pro-paranormal factions have exerted a vast amount of energy, time, and money to ensure that this state of affairs remains in flux, because investigations into pseudoscience has shown that it is often quite profitable..though it poses a significant risk to the people who depend on pseudoscience to treat various life-threatening ailments and situations. One slogan originated by CSICOP concerning the profitability of pseudoscience states: Junk science sells far more than real science.

See also: Mars effect

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