Marcello Truzzi - Revision history

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	{{~~PersonInfobox~~		{{InfoboxPerson
	\|name=Marcello Truzzi		\|name=Marcello Truzzi
	\|born=6 September 1935, [[Copenhagen]], [[:Category:Denmark\|Denmark]]		\|born=6 September 1935, [[Copenhagen]], [[:Category:Denmark\|Denmark]]
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	\|status=Deceased		\|status=Deceased
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	'''Marcello Truzzi''' (6 September 1935 – 2 February 2003) was an American sociologist and professor at Eastern Michigan University, best known as a co-founder of the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (originally CSICOP) who broke with the organisation within its first year over fundamental disagreements about what genuine "scientific investigation" of the paranormal should mean.<ref name="~~emich~~">{{cite web \|title=~~Collection~~: Marcello Truzzi ~~papers~~ \|url=https://~~aspace~~.~~emich~~.~~edu~~/~~repositories~~/2/~~resources~~/~~251~~ \|website=~~Eastern Michigan University Archives~~}}</ref>		'''Marcello Truzzi''' (6 September 1935 – 2 February 2003) was an American sociologist and professor at Eastern Michigan University, best known as a co-founder of the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (originally CSICOP) who broke with the organisation within its first year over fundamental disagreements about what genuine "scientific investigation" of the paranormal should mean.<ref name="halperin">{{cite web \|title=The Man Who Was a "Zetetic Scholar" – Remembering Marcello Truzzi \|url=https://www.davidhalperin.net/the-man-who-was-a-zetetic-scholar-remembering-marcello-truzzi/ \|website=davidhalperin.net \|date=25 June 2019}}</ref> Fellow CSICOP co-founder [[Paul Kurtz]] dubbed him "the skeptic's skeptic."<ref name="lippard">{{cite web \|title=Marcello Truzzi's Zetetic Scholar online \|url=https://blog.lippard.org/2007/09/marcello-truzzis-zetetic-scholar-online.html/ \|website=The Lippard Blog}}</ref>

	== Early life and education ==		== Early life and education ==
	Truzzi was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a family of circus performers, immigrating to the United States in 1940. He earned a BA from Florida State University in 1957, an MA from the University of Florida in 1962, and a PhD in sociology from Cornell University in 1970.<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite web \|title=Truzzi, Marcello (1935-) \|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/truzzi-marcello-1935 \|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He ~~went~~ on to chair the sociology department at Eastern Michigan University for over a decade.<ref name="~~grokipedia~~"~~>{{cite web \|title=Truzzi \|url=https:/~~/~~grokipedia.com/page/Truzzi \|website=Grokipedia}}</ref~~>		Truzzi was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a family of circus performers, immigrating to the United States in 1940.<ref name="halperin"/> He earned a BA from Florida State University in 1957, an MA from the University of Florida in 1962, and a PhD in sociology from Cornell University in 1970.<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite web \|title=Truzzi, Marcello (1935-) \|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/truzzi-marcello-1935 \|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He taught at New College of Florida before going on to chair the sociology department at Eastern Michigan University for over a decade.<ref name="lippard"/>

	== Founding and leaving CSICOP ==		== Founding and leaving CSICOP ==
	Truzzi co-founded and co-chaired the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) with [[Paul Kurtz]] in 1976, ~~and~~ edited its original journal, ~~initially named~~ ''The Zetetic''. Unlike his co-founders, Truzzi wanted the organisation and its journal to genuinely engage with, and include, proponents of paranormal claims — including ufologists — rather than approach investigation with a settled debunking conclusion already in mind.<ref name="~~lippard~~"~~>{{cite web \|title=Marcello Truzzi's Zetetic Scholar online \|url=https:/~~/~~blog.lippard.org/2007/09/marcello-truzzis-zetetic-scholar-online.html/ \|website=The Lippard Blog}}</ref~~> This clashed with the more combative, media-facing approach favoured by fellow founders including [[Martin Gardner]], ~~and~~ within about a year of CSICOP's founding, Truzzi received a vote of no confidence from its Executive Council; Kendrick Frazier became the journal's new editor, and it was renamed ''Skeptical Inquirer''.<ref name="skepticsplay">{{cite web \|title=An older controversy: Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism \|url=https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html \|website=Skeptic's Play \|date=14 May 2013}}</ref>		Truzzi co-founded and co-chaired the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) with [[Paul Kurtz]] in 1976, edited its original journal, ''The Zetetic'', and was separately a founding member of the Society for Scientific Exploration.<ref name="lippard"/> Unlike his co-founders, Truzzi wanted the organisation and its journal to genuinely engage with, and include, proponents of paranormal claims — including ufologists — rather than approach investigation with a settled debunking conclusion already in mind.<ref name="halperin"/> This clashed with the more combative, media-facing approach favoured by fellow founders including [[Martin Gardner]], who saw the organisation's purpose as pushing back against what they regarded as an "irrationalist" assault on mainstream scientific thinking; within about a year of CSICOP's founding, Truzzi received a vote of no confidence from its Executive Council, Kendrick Frazier became the journal's new editor, and it was renamed ''Skeptical Inquirer''.<ref name="halperin"/><ref name="skepticsplay">{{cite web \|title=An older controversy: Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism \|url=https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html \|website=Skeptic's Play \|date=14 May 2013}}</ref>

	== Zetetic Scholar and "pseudoskepticism" ==		== Zetetic Scholar and "pseudoskepticism" ==
	After leaving CSICOP, Truzzi founded the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research (CSAR) in 1981 and launched his own journal, ''Zetetic Scholar: An Independent Scientific Review of Claims of Anomalies and the Paranormal'', which he edited from 1978 to 1987, with contributors spanning committed sceptics including Gardner alongside UFO-sympathetic academics.<ref name="halperin"~~>{{cite web \|title=The Man Who Was a "Zetetic Scholar" – Remembering Marcello Truzzi \|url=https:~~/~~/www.davidhalperin.net/the-man-who-was-a-zetetic-scholar-remembering-marcello-truzzi/ \|website=davidhalperin.net \|date=25 June 2019}}</ref~~> He promoted the term "zeteticism" — from the Greek for "to search out, inquire," and linked to the ancient sceptic Pyrrho's tradition of suspending judgment — as an alternative to "skepticism," arguing the latter term had been claimed by what he called "pseudoskeptics": those who conclude a claim is false without genuinely investigating it first, rather than withholding judgment as a true sceptic should.<ref name="~~enacademic~~">{{cite web \|title=~~Marcello Truzzi~~ \|url=https://~~en-academic~~.~~com~~/~~dic.nsf~~/~~enwiki~~/~~667202~~ \|website=~~en-academic.com~~}}</ref> He later summarised the distinction ~~by describing himself~~ as belonging to the Pyrrhonian sceptical tradition, in contrast to the "Academic" sceptical tradition he associated with most of his former CSICOP colleagues.<ref name="~~enacademic~~" />		After leaving CSICOP, Truzzi founded the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research (CSAR) in 1981 and launched his own journal, ''Zetetic Scholar: An Independent Scientific Review of Claims of Anomalies and the Paranormal'', which he edited from 1978 to 1987, with contributors spanning committed sceptics including Gardner alongside UFO-sympathetic academics.<ref name="halperin"/> He promoted the term "zeteticism" — from the Greek for "to search out, inquire," and linked to the ancient sceptic Pyrrho's tradition of suspending judgment — as an alternative to "skepticism," arguing the latter term had been claimed by what he called "pseudoskeptics": those who conclude a claim is false without genuinely investigating it first, rather than withholding judgment as a true sceptic should.<ref name="dailyomnivore">{{cite web \|title=Pseudoskepticism \|url=https://thedailyomnivore.net/2013/06/26/pseudoskepticism/ \|website=The Daily Omnivore}}</ref> He later summarised the distinction as belonging to the Pyrrhonian sceptical tradition, in contrast to the "Academic" sceptical tradition he associated with most of his former CSICOP colleagues.<ref name="dailyomnivore"/>

	Truzzi's tenure at ''Zetetic Scholar'' also covered CSICOP's own "Mars Effect" controversy of the early 1980s, in which researcher Dennis Rawlins publicly accused the organisation of misrepresenting statistical findings on a claimed astrological correlation, in order to report a negative result.<ref name="skepticsplay" />		Truzzi's tenure at ''Zetetic Scholar'' also covered CSICOP's own "Mars Effect" controversy of the early 1980s, in which researcher Dennis Rawlins publicly accused the organisation of misrepresenting statistical findings on a claimed astrological correlation, in order to report a negative result.<ref name="skepticsplay"/>

	== Research on psychic detectives ==		== Research on psychic detectives ==
	Truzzi maintained a long-standing academic interest in claimed psychic detection, co-authoring with Arthur Lyons what is regarded as a definitive text on the subject, ''The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime'' (1991) — a topic later also examined academically by [[Ciarán O'Keeffe]] in his own published research on the rhetoric used by self-described psychic detectives.<ref name="encyclopedia" />		Truzzi maintained a long-standing academic interest in claimed psychic detection, co-authoring with Arthur Lyons what is regarded as a definitive text on the subject, ''The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime'' (1991) — a topic later also examined academically by [[Ciarán O'Keeffe]] in his own published research on the rhetoric used by self-described psychic detectives.<ref name="encyclopedia"/>

	== Later life ==		== Later life ==
	In his later career, Truzzi served as an advisor to the International Remote Viewing Association, reflecting his consistent position that claimed anomalous phenomena — including [[Clairvoyance\|remote viewing]] — deserved genuinely open, rigorous investigation rather than dismissal on principle.<ref name="~~wikipedia~~"~~>{{cite web \|title=Marcello Truzzi \|url=https:~~/~~/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi \|website=Wikipedia}}</ref~~>		In his later career, Truzzi served as an advisor to the International Remote Viewing Association, reflecting his consistent position that claimed anomalous phenomena — including [[Clairvoyance\|remote viewing]] — deserved genuinely open, rigorous investigation rather than dismissal on principle.<ref name="halperin"/>

	== Death ==		== Death ==
	Truzzi died on 2 February 2003 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aged 67.<ref name="~~wikipedia~~" />		Truzzi died on 2 February 2003 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aged 67.<ref name="lippard"/>

	== See also ==		== See also ==
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	* [[Martin Gardner]]		* [[Martin Gardner]]
	* [[Skepticism]]		* [[Skepticism]]
	* [[Ciarán O'Keeffe]]

	== References ==		== References ==
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	* [https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html Skeptic's Play — Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism]		* [https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html Skeptic's Play — Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism]

	[[Category:~~Researchers~~]]		[[Category:Investigators]]
	[[Category:People]]		[[Category:People]]
			[[Category:Ann Arbor, Michigan]]

GaryJJSpate: Created page with "{{PersonInfobox |name=Marcello Truzzi |born=6 September 1935, Copenhagen, Denmark |died=2 February 2003, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA |occupation=Sociologist, professor |known_for=Co-founding CSICOP; coining "pseudoskepticism"; founding Zetetic Scholar |status=Deceased }} '''Marcello Truzzi''' (6 September 1935 – 2 February 2003) was an American sociologist and professor at Eastern..."

2026-07-29T18:04:22Z

Created page with "{{PersonInfobox |name=Marcello Truzzi |born=6 September 1935, Copenhagen, Denmark |died=2 February 2003, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA |occupation=Sociologist, professor |known_for=Co-founding CSICOP; coining "pseudoskepticism"; founding Zetetic Scholar |status=Deceased }} '''Marcello Truzzi''' (6 September 1935 – 2 February 2003) was an American sociologist and professor at Eastern..."

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{{PersonInfobox
|name=Marcello Truzzi
|born=6 September 1935, [[Copenhagen]], [[:Category:Denmark|Denmark]]
|died=2 February 2003, [[Ann Arbor]], [[:Category:Michigan|Michigan]], [[:Category:United States of America|USA]]
|occupation=Sociologist, professor
|known_for=Co-founding CSICOP; coining "pseudoskepticism"; founding Zetetic Scholar
|status=Deceased
}}

'''Marcello Truzzi''' (6 September 1935 – 2 February 2003) was an American sociologist and professor at Eastern Michigan University, best known as a co-founder of the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (originally CSICOP) who broke with the organisation within its first year over fundamental disagreements about what genuine "scientific investigation" of the paranormal should mean.<ref name="emich">{{cite web |title=Collection: Marcello Truzzi papers |url=https://aspace.emich.edu/repositories/2/resources/251 |website=Eastern Michigan University Archives}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Truzzi was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a family of circus performers, immigrating to the United States in 1940. He earned a BA from Florida State University in 1957, an MA from the University of Florida in 1962, and a PhD in sociology from Cornell University in 1970.<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite web |title=Truzzi, Marcello (1935-) |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/truzzi-marcello-1935 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He went on to chair the sociology department at Eastern Michigan University for over a decade.<ref name="grokipedia">{{cite web |title=Truzzi |url=https://grokipedia.com/page/Truzzi |website=Grokipedia}}</ref>

== Founding and leaving CSICOP ==
Truzzi co-founded and co-chaired the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) with [[Paul Kurtz]] in 1976, and edited its original journal, initially named ''The Zetetic''. Unlike his co-founders, Truzzi wanted the organisation and its journal to genuinely engage with, and include, proponents of paranormal claims — including ufologists — rather than approach investigation with a settled debunking conclusion already in mind.<ref name="lippard">{{cite web |title=Marcello Truzzi's Zetetic Scholar online |url=https://blog.lippard.org/2007/09/marcello-truzzis-zetetic-scholar-online.html/ |website=The Lippard Blog}}</ref> This clashed with the more combative, media-facing approach favoured by fellow founders including [[Martin Gardner]], and within about a year of CSICOP's founding, Truzzi received a vote of no confidence from its Executive Council; Kendrick Frazier became the journal's new editor, and it was renamed ''Skeptical Inquirer''.<ref name="skepticsplay">{{cite web |title=An older controversy: Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism |url=https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html |website=Skeptic's Play |date=14 May 2013}}</ref>

== Zetetic Scholar and "pseudoskepticism" ==
After leaving CSICOP, Truzzi founded the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research (CSAR) in 1981 and launched his own journal, ''Zetetic Scholar: An Independent Scientific Review of Claims of Anomalies and the Paranormal'', which he edited from 1978 to 1987, with contributors spanning committed sceptics including Gardner alongside UFO-sympathetic academics.<ref name="halperin">{{cite web |title=The Man Who Was a "Zetetic Scholar" – Remembering Marcello Truzzi |url=https://www.davidhalperin.net/the-man-who-was-a-zetetic-scholar-remembering-marcello-truzzi/ |website=davidhalperin.net |date=25 June 2019}}</ref> He promoted the term "zeteticism" — from the Greek for "to search out, inquire," and linked to the ancient sceptic Pyrrho's tradition of suspending judgment — as an alternative to "skepticism," arguing the latter term had been claimed by what he called "pseudoskeptics": those who conclude a claim is false without genuinely investigating it first, rather than withholding judgment as a true sceptic should.<ref name="enacademic">{{cite web |title=Marcello Truzzi |url=https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/667202 |website=en-academic.com}}</ref> He later summarised the distinction by describing himself as belonging to the Pyrrhonian sceptical tradition, in contrast to the "Academic" sceptical tradition he associated with most of his former CSICOP colleagues.<ref name="enacademic" />

Truzzi's tenure at ''Zetetic Scholar'' also covered CSICOP's own "Mars Effect" controversy of the early 1980s, in which researcher Dennis Rawlins publicly accused the organisation of misrepresenting statistical findings on a claimed astrological correlation, in order to report a negative result.<ref name="skepticsplay" />

== Research on psychic detectives ==
Truzzi maintained a long-standing academic interest in claimed psychic detection, co-authoring with Arthur Lyons what is regarded as a definitive text on the subject, ''The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime'' (1991) — a topic later also examined academically by [[Ciarán O'Keeffe]] in his own published research on the rhetoric used by self-described psychic detectives.<ref name="encyclopedia" />

== Later life ==
In his later career, Truzzi served as an advisor to the International Remote Viewing Association, reflecting his consistent position that claimed anomalous phenomena — including [[Clairvoyance|remote viewing]] — deserved genuinely open, rigorous investigation rather than dismissal on principle.<ref name="wikipedia">{{cite web |title=Marcello Truzzi |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Truzzi |website=Wikipedia}}</ref>

== Death ==
Truzzi died on 2 February 2003 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aged 67.<ref name="wikipedia" />

== See also ==
* [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]
* [[Paul Kurtz]]
* [[Martin Gardner]]
* [[Skepticism]]
* [[Ciarán O'Keeffe]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.davidhalperin.net/the-man-who-was-a-zetetic-scholar-remembering-marcello-truzzi/ davidhalperin.net — The Man Who Was a "Zetetic Scholar"]
* [https://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-older-controversy-marcello-truzzi.html Skeptic's Play — Marcello Truzzi and pseudoskepticism]

[[Category:Researchers]]
[[Category:People]]