Marcello Truzzi (September 6, 1935 – February 2, 2003) was a professor of
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
at
New College of Florida
New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an aut ...
and later at
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...
, founding co-chairman of the
(CSICOP), a founder of the
Society for Scientific Exploration
The Society for Scientific Exploration, or SSE, is a group committed to studying fringe science. The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science. ...
, and director for the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research.
Truzzi was an investigator of various
protoscience
__NOTOC__
In the philosophy of science, there are several definitions of protoscience. Its simplest meaning (most closely reflecting its roots of ''proto-'' + ''science'') involves the earliest eras of the history of science, when the scientific me ...
s and
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
s and, as fellow CSICOP cofounder
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and Secular humanism, secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buff ...
dubbed him "the
skeptic
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
's skeptic". He is credited with originating the oft-used phrase "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof", though earlier versions existed.
Early life and education
Truzzi was born in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, and was the only child of
juggler
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...
Massimiliano Truzzi and his wife Sonya. His family moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1940 where his father performed with the
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Truzzi earned several degrees in sociology: his Bachelor of Arts from
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
in 1957, his Master of Arts from the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
in 1962, and his doctorate from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in 1970.
He served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
between 1958 and 1960; he became a
naturalized citizen
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
in 1961.
Career
A professor of sociology at
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...
from 1974–2003,
Truzzi served as the chair of the sociology department from 1974 to 1985.
Truzzi also taught at
Cornell
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...
, the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
,
and the
New College of Florida
New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an aut ...
.
His 1968 textbook, “''
Sociology in Every Day Life
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
'',” was a best-seller.
Truzzi founded the skeptical journal ''Explorations''. In 1976, Truzzi was a founding member of the skeptic organization CSICOP and served as its co-chairman along with
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and Secular humanism, secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buff ...
.
Truzzi's journal became the official journal of the
(CSICOP) and was renamed ''The Zetetic'' ("zetetic" is another name for "skeptic" and is not to be confused with
zetetics, the study of the relationship of art and science). The journal was under his editorship for the first year, until August 1977.
He left CSICOP about a year after its founding, after receiving a vote of no confidence from the group's Executive Council. Truzzi wanted to include pro-
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
people in the organization and pro-paranormal research in the journal, but CSICOP felt that there were already enough organizations and journals dedicated to the paranormal.
Kendrick Frazier
Kendrick Crosby Frazier (March 19, 1942 – November 7, 2022) was an American science writer and longtime editor of ''Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine. He was also a former editor of '' Science News'', author or editor of ten books, and a Fellow of ...
became the editor of CSICOP's journal and the name was changed to ''
Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''.
Mission statement and goals
Daniel Loxton, writing in ...
''.
After leaving CSICOP, Truzzi started another journal, the ''Zetetic Scholar''.
[Zetetic Scholar archives]
/ref> He promoted the term "zeteticism" as an alternative to "skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
", because he thought that the latter term was being usurped by what he termed " pseudoskeptics". A zetetic is a "skeptical seeker". The term's origins lie in the word for the followers of the skeptic Pyrrho
Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek skeptic philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism.
Life
...
in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
. ''Skeptic's Dictionary
''The Skeptic's Dictionary'' is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 wi ...
'' memorialized Truzzi thus:Truzzi considered most skeptics to be pseudoskeptics, a term he coined to describe those who assume an occult or paranormal claim is false without bothering to investigate it. A kind way to state these differences might be to say that Marcello belonged to the Pyrrhonian tradition, most of the rest of us belong to the Academic skeptical tradition.
Truzzi was skeptical of investigators and debunker
A debunker is a person or organization that exposes or discredits claims believed to be false, exaggerated, or pretentious. "to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk adv ...
s who determined the validity of a claim prior to investigation. He accused CSICOP of increasingly unscientific behavior, for which he coined the term ''pseudoskepticism
Pseudoskepticism ( also spelled as pseudoscepticism) is a philosophical or scientific position that appears to be that of skepticism or scientific skepticism but in reality is a form of dogmatism.
Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
An ea ...
''. Truzzi stated:
Truzzi held that CSICOP researchers sometimes also put unreasonable limits on the standards for proof regarding the study of anomalies and the paranormal. Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
wrote: "In recent years he (Truzzi) has become a personal friend of Uri Geller
Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other ill ...
; not that he believes Uri has psychic powers, as I understand it, but he admires Uri for having made a fortune by pretending he is not a magician."
Truzzi co-authored a book on psychic detectives entitled ''The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime''. It investigated many psychic detectives and concluded: " unearthed new evidence supporting ''both'' sides in the controversy. We hope to have shown that much of the debate has been extremely simplistic." The book also stated that the evidence didn't meet the burden of proof demanded for such an extraordinary claim.
Although he was familiar with ''folie à deux
Folie à deux ('folly of two', or 'madness haredby two'), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a collection of rare psychiatric syndromes in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations, ...
'', Truzzi was confident a shared visual hallucination could not be skeptically examined by one of the participators. Thus he categorized it as an anomaly. In a 1982 interview Truzzi stated that controlled ESP (ganzfeld) experiments had "gotten the right results" maybe 60 percent of the time. This question remains controversial. Truzzi remained an advisor to IRVA, the International Remote Viewing
Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, purportedly sensing with the mind. Typically a remote viewer is expected to give information about an object, event, person or location that is hidden ...
Association, from its founding meeting until his death.
Truzzi was Keynote Speaker at the 1st annual National Roller Coaster Conference, "CoasterMania", held at Cedar Point
Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and op ...
Amusement Park, Sandusky, Ohio, in 1978. On the subject of riding in the front vs riding in the back of a roller coaster, he said:
Truzzi died from cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
on February 2, 2003.
Pseudoskepticism
Marcello Truzzi popularized the term ''pseudoskepticism'' in response to skeptics
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
who, in his opinion, made negative claims without bearing the burden of proof of those claims.
While a Professor of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University in 1987, Truzzi discussed pseudoskepticism in the journal ''Zetetic Scholar'' which he had founded:
In 1994 Susan Blackmore
Susan Jane Blackmore (born 29 July 1951) is a British writer, lecturer, sceptic, broadcaster, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. Her fields of research include memetics, parapsychology, consciousness, and she is best known fo ...
, a parapsychologist who became more skeptical and eventually became a CSICOP
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the US non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "prom ...
fellow in 1991, described what she termed the "worst kind of pseudoskepticism":
"Extraordinary claims"
Truzzi's remark is derived from the 18th century French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. He summarized ...
's "" (the more extraordinary a fact is, the more it needs to be supported by strong evidence). Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
later popularized Truzzi's adaptation of Laplace as "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", which came to be known as the Sagan standard
The Sagan standard is a neologism abbreviating the aphorism that "''extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence''" (ECREE). It is named after science communicator Carl Sagan who used the exact phrase on his television program ''Cosmos'' ...
.
Martin Gardner – Truzzi correspondence
In 2017, ''World Scientific
World Scientific Publishing is an academic publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in 1981. It publishes about 600 books annually, along with 135 journals in various f ...
'' released a book edited by Dana Richards about the correspondence between Martin Gardner and Truzzi. The book called ''Dear Martin, Dear Marcello: Gardner and Truzzi on Skepticism'' is broken up into four sections; "The Road to CSICOP", "The Demarcation Problem", "The Dissolution", and the "Return to Cordiality". The early letters from Truzzi were not preserved and the beginning of the book seems one-sided with only Gardner's letters. The editor, Richards states in the introduction the conflicts between the two men, their differing goals for CSICOP, and various people in the skeptic and paranormal communities. They discuss many topics including publishers, Geller, and the "definitions of charlatan and crankpot".
Books by Truzzi
*
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*
* , 236 pages. Ten essays on methods of abductive inference in Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...
's Dupin Dupin is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* André Marie Jean Jacques Dupin (1783–1865), French advocate
* C. Auguste Dupin, a fictional detective
* Charles Dupin (1784–1873), French Catholic mathematician
* Jacques D ...
, Doyle
Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish (), meaning "descendant of ''Dubhghall''". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname ''D'Oyley'' with agglut ...
's Holmes
Holmes may refer to:
Name
* Holmes (surname)
* Holmes (given name)
* Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland
* Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer
Places
In the ...
, Peirce and many others.
*
*
*
*
See also
* ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'' (2002).
* Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and ...
* Charles Fort
Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...
* Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term '' paradigm ...
* Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Mihály; 11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies ...
* Strong programme
The strong programme or strong sociology is a variety of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) particularly associated with David Bloor, Barry Barnes, Harry Collins, Donald A. MacKenzie, and John Henry. The strong programme's influence on ...
* Science wars
The science wars were a series of scholarly and public discussions in the 1990s over the social place of science in making authoritative claims about the world.
HighBeam Encyclopedia defines the science wars as the discussions about the "way the sc ...
* Modern flat Earth beliefs
Modern flat Earth beliefs are promoted by organizations and individuals which make claims that the Earth is flat while denying the Earth's sphericity, contrary to over two millennia of scientific consensus. Flat Earth beliefs are pseudoscie ...
("Zetetic astronomy")
References
Further reading
;Obituaries
* Carroll, Robert Todd.
In Memoriam
* Coleman, Loren.
. 2003.
* Kurtz, Paul.
Skeptical gadfly Marcello Truzzi
– 1935–2003", ''Skeptical Inquirer'', News and Comment – Obituary. May–June, 2003.
* Mathis, Jo Collins. "Expert on the Paranormal Dies: Longtime EMU Sociology Professor Marcello Truzzi Explored 'Things That Go Bump in the Night'". ''Ann Arbor News'', February 9, 2003.
* Oliver, Myrna – "Professor Studied the Far-Out From Witchcraft to Psychic Powers". ''Los Angeles Times'', February 11, 2003, Home Edition, p. B.11.
* Smith, Paul H. –
* "Marcello Truzzi, Sociologist was Student of Magic". ''Detroit News'', February 12, 2003.
External links
;Truzzi's writings
* Steveknightspost.
.
* Truzzi, Marcello.
. ''The Anomalist'', US, 2005.
* Truzzi, Marcello.
. ''Psi Researcher'' No. 21. (originally in ''Parapsychological Association Newsletter'')
* Truzzi, Marcello. "Reflection on the reception of unconventional claims of science". ''Frontier Perspectives'', vol. 1 number 2, Fall/Winter 1990. (''ed''., copy located at
* Truzzi, Marcello, and Massimiliano Truzzi.
Notes toward a history of juggling
. Bandwagon, Vol. 18 No. 2, March–April 1974.
* Truzzi, Marcello.
. ''Juggling Hall of Fame'', July 1996.
* Truzzi, Marcello. " Project Alpha: Sabotage". ''Skeptical Inquirer'', 8(2)187.
;Other
* Clark, Jerome, "Archive > Milestone
Marcello Truzzi (1935–2003)
. ''The Anomalist'', US, 2005.
* Hansen, George P.,
Marcello Truzzi (1935–2003)
. (''ed''., recognizes Marcello Truzzi's contributions to sociology, the history of juggling, magic, and the study of the paranormal.)
Zeteticism
on the Flat Earth Wiki.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truzzi, Marcello
1935 births
2003 deaths
Danish emigrants to the United States
Deaths from cancer in Michigan
American sociologists
American people of Italian descent
Danish people of Italian descent
New College of Florida faculty
Eastern Michigan University faculty
American skeptics
Pyrrhonism
Western esotericism scholars