Description

Open-Mindedness is a central value for Humanists.  However, it is often used by followers of superstition and pseudoscience to criticize Humanists, Freethinkers, and skeptics as being close-minded, or not as open-minded as we claim.  So what is being open-minded really about?  The video defines it as “being open to new ideas.”  Science thrives on this virtue because real open-mindedness actively seeks out answers and evidence to the unexplained.  It doesn’t mean simply accepting more fanciful, supernatural explanations.

Discussion Questions

• How would you define ‘open mindedness’?  How is it related to curiosity?
• Why is evidence so important?  And when does the video say we don’t really need any evidence?
• Should we be open to the possibility of ghosts, wigi boards, and other superstitions?
• What is the difference between “I don’t believe X” and “X cannot be true”?

Keywords: belief, curiosity, evidence, Humanism, rationality, secularism, superstition, truth, philosophy, critical thinking,