ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general definition and characterization of skepticism in its various forms and indicate the relevance of this discussion to claims of the paranormal. Skepticism has had a powerful influence in the history of thought. The chapter focuses on two main types of scepticism: total scepticism and selective scepticism. Some forms of skepticism are illegitimate and unwarranted and border on dogmatic rejection, and the critics of these forms of skepticism have good grounds for objecting, for there is obviously a need for skeptics to be skeptical of their own alleged objectivity. Dogmatic skepticism is destructive when it labels as "ludicrous" anything within science that threatens its world view. Some of the criticisms made by skeptics of fields of alleged paranormal inquiry are surely exaggerated forms of overkill, and one can understand why some paranormal researchers would like to treat the skeptics as the proverbial messengers from Thebes.
