What is Skepsis?

Skepsis ry is an association of Finnish skeptics (sceptics) founded in 1987. Anyone can apply for membership and become involved.

The purpose of the association is:

• To promote critical thinking, the teaching of scientific methods of knowledge acquisition and a scientific and rational understanding of the world.
• Promote scientific scrutiny of controversial or particularly exceptional claims.
• Promote debate on important issues related to the scientific worldview.
• Maintain a network of people interested in such activities, organise meetings, discussions and lectures, and carry out information and awareness-raising activities.

The association is a scientific and educational organisation that is politically, ideologically and religiously independent.

Skepsis ry works in cooperation with CSI (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) and other similar organisations. Skepsis is a member organisation of ECSO (European Skeptics) and Federation of Finnish Learned Societies.

Skepsis publishes the Skeptikko magazine four times a year and organises lectures and discussions open to the public.

Skepsis is committed to following the Journalist's Guidelines and the Code of Conduct of the Council for Mass Media (CMM).

Skepsis has published four books in Finnish language: The Devil's Advocate (1989), The Devil's Advocate Returns (1997), The Wonderful World - The Skeptic's Encyclopaedia (2001) and Can It Be True - Skeptical Perspectives on Contemporary Life (2017).

The association is best known for the Huuhaa and Socrates prizes it awards.

Huuhaa Prize (1989-) has been awarded to organisations whose activities have contributed to the spread of pseudoscientific beliefs. For example, the 2022 Huuhaa Prize was awarded to the Aavedata Group for popularising pseudoscientific research methods.

Socrates Prize (1995-) was established to highlight educational work that has encouraged critical thinking. For example, the 2020 Socrates Prize was awarded to Professor Juhani Knuuti, MD, who has challenged ill-founded health claims in the light of scientific evidence.

For several years, Skepsis has also offered a challenge to people with paranormal abilities. The association has promised to pay 20,000 € to anyone who produces a paranormal phenomenon under controlled conditions. The sum can also be paid directly to an extraterrestial humanoid as a special “Humanoid Stipend” if the humanoid in question can provide an alien DNA (or equivalent) sample at the same time. Only human applicants have appeared so far, and none of the many contestants have managed to pass even the pre-test mentioned in the rules of the challenge.