Robert Todd Carroll

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Robert Todd Carroll
Carroll at SkeptiCalcon 2011 in Berkeley, CA
Born
Robert Todd Carroll

(1945-05-18)May 18, 1945
Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
DiedAugust 25, 2016(2016-08-25) (aged 71)
Davis, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego
Occupation(s)Author, professor
Websitewww.skepdic.com

Robert Todd Carroll (May 18, 1945 – August 25, 2016) was an American author, philosopher and academic, best known for The Skeptic's Dictionary. He described himself as a naturalist, an atheist, a materialist, a metaphysical libertarian, and a positivist.[1] In 2010 he was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[2] He was a professor of philosophy at Sacramento City College from 1977 until his retirement in 2007.[3]

Life

Carroll was born in

Catholic.[5]

Carroll went to the

Sacramento area and from 1977 lived in Davis.[5]

Carroll said he never went through a religious

agnostic. After leaving the Fellowship, he said, he spent years thinking about his religion. He later said, "The more I thought about religious ideas, the more false and absurd they seem to me." Carroll took up Kierkegaard's idea that religious beliefs require a leap of faith because they cannot be rationally proven. But Carroll decided to leap in the other direction. He said he "found many reasons for disbelief and absolutely no reasons for belief."[5]

In May 2014, Carroll was diagnosed with stage IV

liver metastasis.[8] In May 2016 he announced he would no longer be able to write the Skeptic's Dictionary monthly newsletter on account of his illness.[9] On August 25, 2016, Carroll died in a local hospital in Davis, California.[4] He was survived by his wife and his two daughters and two grandchildren.[10]

Career

Professor

Carroll started teaching philosophy part time at Lassen Community College. Then he taught philosophy of religion at American River College for two years. Thereafter he taught full time at Sacramento City College, where from 1977 through 2007 he taught introductory philosophy; logic and critical reasoning; law, justice, and punishment; and critical thinking about the paranormal. For several years he served as chairman of the philosophy department.[11]

Writer

Drawing on his classwork,[5] Carroll wrote Becoming a Critical Thinker: A Guide for a New Millennium, an introductory textbook for logic and critical thinking. Pearson Educational published the first edition in 2000. A second edition was published in 2005.[3]

In 2003 John Wiley & Son published a paperback edition of The Skeptic's Dictionary, derived from Carroll's website of the same name. The book provides essays on subjects Carroll considered supernatural, occult, paranormal, or pseudoscientific.[12] It generally assumed that something is false until proven true.[13] In the last chapter, Carroll offered ways to improve critical thinking and skepticism.[14] The book is also available in Dutch, English, Japanese, Korean, and Russian.[15]

In 2011 Carroll published online a children's version of The Skeptic's Dictionary. In 2013, it came out as a book under the title Mysteries and Science: Exploring Aliens, Ghosts, Monsters, the End of the World and Other Weird Things. Carroll also wrote Unnatural Acts: Critical Thinking, Skepticism, and Science Exposed!, which was published as an e-book in 2011 by the

Lulu.[3] In 2013 Carroll also self-published The Critical Thinker's Dictionary, which features short articles about cognitive biases and logical fallacies.[16]

Skeptic

Carroll said he had been investigating controversial beliefs since he was seven years old when he had doubts about Santa Claus.[1] Carroll started writing skeptical content in 1992, when both his best friend and his father-in-law died within the same week. He later said, "It was like the deaths of these two people had forced me to start looking at everything and not take anything for granted."[17]

After Carroll and his wife attended free training in 1994 in which they learned about the Internet and

Historical and Critical Dictionary in both its name[20]
and its biased stance.

On March 27, 2012, Carroll began a regular segment on the podcast Skepticality entitled "Unnatural Virtue" in which he commented on topics in critical thinking and skepticism.[21][22] The segment ran for thirty-one episodes, until April 29, 2014.

Carroll spoke at several skeptic conferences. In 2003 he spoke at the first

Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal on frauds and hoaxes. In 2004 he spoke to the Irish Skeptics in Dublin.[3] In 2007 he conducted a critical-thinking workshop at the 5th Amazing Meeting. In 2011 he led a discussion on "Five Myths About Skeptics" at the second annual SkeptiCalCon event, held in Berkeley, CA.[23]

He was also interviewed by

groups promoting scientific skepticism, such as the New England Skeptical Society[24] and Media Man Australia.[25] In January 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[11]

In an interview with Point of Inquiry's Karen Stollznow, Carroll said he did not earn much money from his skeptical work: "If we talk about the money we make from skepticism we might set a record for the shortest interview ever." But everybody should be a skeptic, he said, because it is a healthy way of approaching life. He said that skeptics' meetups and conferences, as well as the positive feedback he received on his work, were his main motivations.[26]

Criticism

Richard Milton

After Carroll published a piece online labelling Richard Milton's writings on alternative science "Internet Bunk," Milton responded by accusing Carroll of being a "pseudo-skeptic" and said that Carroll had fabricated quotations and misrepresented his arguments.[27] Carroll replied to these accusations in an addendum to his piece.[28]

Rupert Sheldrake

Carroll wrote two Skeptic's Dictionary entries criticizing

morphic resonance idea, in which Sheldrake proposed that, in addition to genetic influences, a "morphogenetic field" for each species evolves similarly to how the species' genes might evolve, that these fields organize the nervous system's activity and can act as a collective memory for the whole species, and that these fields get passed down into the species.[31][33][34]

Sheldrake replied to Carroll's criticism by defending his own arguments and accusing Carroll of committing several

peer reviews.[31]

Publications

References

  1. ^ a b Baggini, Julian. "philosopher's web interview". skepdic.com.
  2. ^ "CSI Fellows and Staff". csicop.org. 3 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Carroll, Robert. "Biographical Information Robert T. Carroll, Ph.D." skepdic.com.
  4. ^ a b "Robert Todd Carroll (1945 - 2016) Obituary". legacy.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Sherwin, Elisabeth. "KDVS, Printed matter on the air, Interview with Bob Carroll".
  6. ISBN 978-94-010-1600-1
    .
  7. ^ Jean-Michel, Vienne (1977). "Robert Todd Carroll, The Common Sense Philosophy of Religion of Bishop Edward Stillingfleet, 1635–1699". XVII-XVIII. Bulletin de la Société d'Études Anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles. 5 (1): 79.
  8. ^ "The Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter- Skepdic.com". www.skepdic.com.
  9. ^ Hill, Sharon (22 May 2016). "End of an era: the last Skeptic's Dictionary newsletter". Doubtful ~ Sharon Hill.
  10. ^ "Robert Carroll (1945 - 2016) - Obituary". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  11. ^ a b "Sixteen Notable Figures in Science and Skepticism Elected CSI Fellows". 12 January 2010. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  12. ^ "Introduction - the Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com.
  13. ^ "Non-fiction: Oct 18". the Guardian. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  14. Hall, Harriet. "Thinking: An Unnatural Act – CSI"
    . www.csicop.org.
  15. ^ Casimir, Jon. "Sydney interview - the Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com. Sydney Herald.
  16. Hall, Harriet (2014-02-11). "How to Think « Science-Based Medicine"
    . www.sciencebasedmedicine.org.
  17. ^ Robertson, Blair. "Blair Anthony Robertson interviews Bob Carroll about the Skeptic's Dictionary". skepdic.com. Sacramento Bee.
  18. ^ "About The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com.
  19. ^ "Acknowledgements - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  20. ^ Colanduno, Derek; McCarthy, Robynn (August 22, 2005). "Interview: w/Bob Carroll of Skepdic". skepticality.com.
  21. Skeptic Magazine
    . Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  22. ^ "Unnatural Virtue – podcast episodes on Skepticality – the Skeptic's Dictionary". www.skepdic.com.
  23. ^ "SkeptiCalCon 2011". 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  24. ^ Perry DeAngelis, "Interview with Robert Todd Carroll", New England Skeptical Society Journal.
  25. ^ Tingle, Greg (21 Apr 2003). "Media Man Australia – The Online Home of Greg Tingle – Journalist and TV Presenter". mediaman.com.au.
  26. ^ Stollznow, Karen (April 16, 2010). "Bob Carroll – Defining Skepticism". pointofinquiry.org.
  27. ^ Richard Milton. "the Skeptic's Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  28. ^ Robert Todd Carroll. "Internet Bunk". Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  29. ^ "The Nkisi Project". www.sheldrake.org. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  30. ^ Carroll, Robert. "N'kisi & the N'kisi Project - the Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com.
  31. ^ a b c Sheldrake, Rupert. "Rupert replies to Robert Todd Carroll". www.sheldrake.org.
  32. ^ Carroll, Robert. "mass media bunk 33: Jane goodall and Talking to the Animals". skepdic.com.
  33. ^ "morphic resonance - the Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com". skepdic.com.
  34. ^ Sheldrake, Rupert. "Morphic Resonance and Mophic Fields an Introduction". www.sheldrake.org.

External links

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