The history of modern skepticism in Europe began at the end of the 19th century with the founding of the Dutch Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (Society against Quackery) in 1881. A similar organisation, the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung des Kurpfuschertums, was founded in Germany in 1903 but did not survive the Nazi regime of the 1930s.
The first broader skeptical organisation was founded in French-speaking Belgium in 1947 as the Comité pour l’Investigation Scientifique des Phénomènes Réputés Paranormaux (Comité Para). In 1976, Paul Kurtz, Jim Alcock, Ray Hyman, and James Randi founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP, now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, CSI), which began an essential step in the expansion of the international skeptical movement to include Europe, leading to many new skeptical organisations throughout Europe. Member organisations today come from all parts of Europe.
These groups began to network with each other, and hosting conferences became an important tool for collaboration.
Following several European congresses, the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) was founded on September 25, 1994. It aimed to continue the European Skeptics Congresses that, from 1989, preceded its creation. Looking at the decades beyond, this congress’s theme can be termed as visionary: “Science, Pseudoscience and the Environment.”
The ECSO is now an umbrella organisation that unites skeptical groups across Europe to promote scientific skepticism. ECSO advocates critical thinking, scientific rigour and integrity, and evidence-based decision-making and practice. ECSO also challenges unsubstantiated and misleading claims and aims to encourage dialogue and raise awareness of critical contemporary issues.
ECSO has formalised the organisation of conferences and currently supports a programme of biennial congress hosted by one of its member organisations. It also maintains a website with contributions from individuals across Europe.
Five congresses preceded the formation of ECSO. The first was held in Bad Tölz, Germany, from the 5th to the 9th May 1989, and attracted around 150 participants. Many skeptics from all over the world attended, some for the first time, such as Massimo Polidoro from Italy, who later became a leading figure in the Italian skeptics’ organisation CICAP. Skeptical icon James Randi played a vital role in the event.
Four events followed, in Brussels, Amsterdam, St Vincent in Italy and Keele in the UK (1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, respectively). The Keele event was organised by the UK skeptics, and took up another theme that had become essential: “Science for Life: Health, Medicine and Well-being”.
More recent congresses have been held in Stockholm (2013), London (2015), Wroclaw (2017), Ghent (2019) and Vienna (2022). Far beyond the traditional skeptical topics, such as misleading medical claims, these congresses have addressed broader issues of general interest, such as pseudoscience and myths about climate, energy, agriculture, uncertainty in science and drug use, which all featured on the program of the 2022 event in Vienna.
Stockholm set the stage with the unforgettable Hans Rosling, who showed how wrong we are in many of the assumptoons we hold. Ken Frazier, another icon of the skeptical movement and editor of the Skeptical Inquirer for half a century, writes of Hans Rosling and his son Ola Rosling in his coverage of the event: They “shattered attendees’ preconceptions from the start with their ‘fact-based worldview with animated data”. Ken Frazier himself fascinated the audience of the same event, with his history of skepticism.
Other examples from the last decade covering a more comprehensive range of topics include Amardeo Sarma in London (2015) on climate change, environmentalist Mark Lynas in Wroclaw (2017) on how he changed his mind about GMOs, and Iida Ruishalme in Ghent (2019) on energy and decarbonisation.
Discussions have increasingly focused on how politicians and decision-makers from all sides of the political spectrum and all walks of life repeatedly ignore science and evidence.
This year marks the 20th European Skeptics Congress, which will be taking place in the charming city of Lyon, France, from 30 May to 2 June 2024. It will cover both classic and new topics relevant to science and skepticism, including Europe’s energy future, the psychology of beliefs (or irrational beliefs), the harms of wellness culture, the skepticism of Leonardo da Vinci, the state of UFOs and Crop Circles in 2023, and what a “good digital society” looks like, in terms of AI, privacy and social media.
Discounts are available for participants who register before 15 May 2024, with more information available via the ECSO website. We hope to see some UK skeptics and readers of The Skeptic there!
