Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking

Membership in PhACT is open to anyone who supports our aims. The annual subscription of $15 includes six issues of our newsletter, Phactum.

For more information,
contact PhACT at
C/O Ray Haupt 639 W Ellet Str
Philadelphia Pa 19119
(215) 885-2089.

Ask for a free copy of our guide, Welcome to Skepticism.
(Oh, by the way, if you do know how to measure the frequencies of psychic vibrations, please tell us. We can't wait to find out.)

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Welcome to the PhACT home page

Who asks questions like these?
Does astrology work?
What is therapeutic touch?
Are UFOs alien spacecraft?
Can we remember past lives?
Can psychics foretell the future?
What do near death experiences mean?
Can hypnotism recover lost memories?
What frequency are psychic vibrations?

We do. We ask: What is the evidence? What can one reasonably deduce from that evidence? Do we need to suppose paranormal powers were involved? Could there be a simpler explanation? Could this have happened by chance? Can we do an experiment to test this? Whose story can we trust? Is this a hoax? What are the facts? We are the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT). We love tough questions but we maintain that there is only one way to find trustworthy answers; to use reason and experiment. We reject: wishful thinking, anecdotes, revelation, unsupported authority and "everybody knows." We ask only, "What are the facts and what can we deduce from them?" Of course we don't know all the answers; nobody does, whatever they may claim. There are many questions which cannot be answered now and some which may never be answered. Our difference? Critical thinkers don't invent answers when there are none. We are not afraid to admit we don't know. We would rather suspend judgment than mislead ourselves and others. PhACT encourages people to think critically about their beliefs and about the validity of the information presented to them. Naturally, PhACT does not presume to tell people what to think but it does give guidance in how to think. Like Josh Billings, we believe that what hurts you more is not what you don't know but what you know that isn't so. We do not arbitrarily reject anything unexamined. Instead, we encourage the responsible scientific investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims. Our aim is to promote scientific inquiry, media responsibility, critical thinking and science education. To carry out these objectives PhACT:

Publishes a newsletter for communication between its members.
Holds educational meetings and lectures
Investigates paranormal and fringe-science claims of local interest.
Urges the media to adopt high standards of critical thought.
Encourages needed research by rigorous and impartial inquiry.

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