We are not an organisation, association, club, constituted society or charity. You can't join, but we might meet sometimes to talk and free thinkers can contribute to the website. I hope that people will want to write discussion essays [click on DISCUSSIONS, left] about matters that concern them and, they think, will interest others.
Actually, 'we' and 'us' = 'me', James Merryweather. Maybe it'll stay a one-man show; I won't know until it gets evolving - which it is, constantly.
We are (or can become) an interactive group of like-minded sceptics who have the conviction that the best way to understand the world is to employ clear, critical thinking. We eschew woolly reasoning, unsubstantiated certainty, evidence-deficient dogma and anything to do with pseudo-science, the supernatural and the paranormal.
We share our thoughts, views and ideas with one another so that, whatever topic exercises our minds, our understanding improves. We are constantly heading in the direction of clarity.
Although it is highly unlikely that any of us subscribes to any sort of religious faith based upon myth, superstition or unquestioning obedience, we are not above acknowledging that there is something very special and mysterious within each of us, which we deny is mystical, supernatural or immortal. It is self, not soul. We share a desire to see and explain the world in rational terms, based upon what is actually in the world and not what is merely alleged to exist, somewhere beyond our ken.
We tend to be - if labelling is ever appropriate or necessary for something we do not have - rational, secularist, humanist, atheist, non-theist or anti-theist and materialist. Our approach to questions about the unknown is sceptical, scientific and reductionist, frequently in accordance with the medieval common sense rule known today as Occam's Razor (see footnote). These 'listy' descriptions in particular are open to discussion and then adjustment according to common assent.
We are characterised by the values and attitudes listed in the left column in this table, which includes flexibility, meaning that we willingly take on the challenge set by John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946:
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
On discussion and reflection, anything we believe can be adjusted, even these stated definitions, values and attitudes, depending upon what is true.
If you agree with these ideals, set out in text and table, you are probably one of 'us', a BLUE-SKYE THINKER.
Please contact me if you would like to register your support for this project with your name, a link to your website or a contribution to the DISCUSSION ESSAYS.
James Merryweather
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footnote William of Ockham (c. 1285-1349) wrote: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity; i.e. the simplest solution tends to be the best one or take the the simplest explanation that covers all the facts or don't make it any more complicated than need be. Christopher Hitchens, 2007: "The razor of Ockham is clean and decisive. When two explanations are offered, one must discard the one that explains the least or explains nothing at all, or raises more questions than it answers."