“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas”

— Carl Sagan

"The Burden of Skepticism" in Skeptical Inquirer Vol. 12, Issue 1 (Fall 1987) http://www.csicop.org/si/show/burden_of_skepticism
Context: It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas … If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you … On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones.

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American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science ed… 1934–1996

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