Paul Kurtz (born February 12, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), but is best known for his prominent role in the American skeptical community.
He founder and chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism, the Center for Inquiry and Prometheus Books. He was editor-in-chief of Free Inquiry Magazine, the official organ of the Council for Secular Humanism. He is a former Co-President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Humanist Laureate and President of the International Academy of Humanism. A former member of the American Humanist Association, he contributed to the writing of Humanist Manifesto II. There is an asteroid named in his honor called (6629) Kurtz.
He received his Bachelor's degree from New York University, and the MA and PhD degrees from fromColumbia University. Kurtz was left-wing in his youth, but says that serving in the US Army in WWII taught him the dangers of ideology. He saw the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps after they were liberated, and became disillusioned with Communism when he encountered Russian slave laborers who had been taken to Germany by force and refused to return to the Soviet Union at the end of the war.
Paul Kurtz has published over 650 articles or reviews and authored or edited over 40 books.
Bibliography
- The Courage to Become Praeger/Greenwood, 1997 ISBN 0275960161
- Living Without Religion: Eupraxophy ISBN 0879759291
- In Defense of Secular Humanism ISBN 0879752289
- Challenges to the Enlightenment: In Defense of Reason and Science by Paul Kurtz, et al, 1994 ISBN 0879758694
- Skepticism and Humanism: The New Paradigm, 2001 ISBN 0765800519
- Science and Religion by Paul Kurtz, et al, 2003 ISBN 1591020646
- Affirmations: Joyful And Creative Exuberance, 2004 ISBN 1591022657
External links
- Paul Kurtz page at the Council for Secular Humanism site
- A Vigorous Skeptic of Everything but Fact The New York Times, June 19, 2002 (Requires registration)