• by Carl Sagan
• ISBN: 0-345-40946-9
• Buy at Amazon.com

The Demon-Haunted World is intended to explain the scientific method to laypersons, and to encourage people to learn critical or skeptical thinking. The book explains methods to help distinguish between ideas that are considered valid science, and ideas that can be considered pseudoscience. Sagan states that when new ideas are offered for consideration, they should be tested by means of skeptical thinking, and should stand up to rigorous questioning.

Sagan claims that if a new idea continues in existence after an examination of the propositions, it should then be acknowledged as a supposition. Skeptical thinking essentially is a means to construct, understand, reason, and recognize valid and invalid arguments. Wherever possible, there must be independent validation of the concepts whose truth should be proved. He believed that reason and logic would succeed once the truth is known. Conclusions emerging from a premise, and the validity of the premise should not be discounted or accepted because of favor.

Sagan presents a set of tools for skeptical thinking which he calls the "baloney detection kit". Skeptical thinking consists both of constructing a reasoned argument and recognizing a fallacious or fraudulent one. In order to identify a fallacious argument, Sagan suggests to employ such "tools" as independent confirmation of "facts", quantification and the use of Occam's Razor. Sagan's "baloney detection kit" also provided tools for detecting "the most common fallacies of logic and rhetoric", such as argument from authority and statistics of small numbers.

Through these tools, the benefits of a critical mind and the "self-correcting" nature of science can take place. Sagan provides a skeptical analysis of several kinds of superstition, fraud, pseudoscience and religious beliefs, such as gods, witches, UFOs, ESP and Faith Healing.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.