History
The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by philosopher and author Paul Kurtz. It brought together two organizations: the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH), both of which had previously operated in tandem but were now formally affiliated under one umbrella. By 1995 CFI had expanded into a new 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) headquarters in Amherst, New York, and in 1996 opened its first branch office in Los Angeles, CFI West. In the same year, CFI founded the Campus Freethought Alliance, organizing college students around issues of importance to CFI and its members.
By 1997 CFI had begun expanding its efforts internationally through an association with Moscow State University. CFI Moscow now operates an exchange program where Russian students and scholars are able to visit CFI headquarters in Amherst, NY and participate in a summer institute each year. Additional international programs exist in Germany (Rossdorf), France (Nice), Spain (Bilbao), Poland (Warsaw), Nigeria (Ibadan), Uganda (Kampala), Kenya (Nairobi), Nepal (Katmandu), India (Pune) (Hyderabad), Egypt (Cairo), China (Beijing), New Zealand (Auckland), Peru (Lima), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Senegal (Dakar), Zambia (Lusaka), and Bangladesh (Dacca).
Between 2002 and 2003 CFI opened two new branches in New York City and Tampa, FL in addition to expanding its west coast branch into a new building in Hollywood, California. Located on Hollywood Boulevard, CFI West also became home to the Steve Allen Theater, named after the former Tonight Show host and CFI supporter. By 2004, CFI continued to expand into cities across the United States with the creation of a network of community organizations called "CFI Communities" in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Tucson, Tallahassee, FL, Indianapolis, and Fort Lauderdale.
In 2005 CFI once again expanded its Amherst headquarters with a new 15,600-square-foot (1,450 m2) research wing. Additionally, CFI was granted special consultative status with the United Nations the same year.
Since 2006 CFI has been expanding rapidly with a series of new branches in cities across North America and around the world. These include new Centers for Inquiry in Toronto, London, Washington DC, Indianapolis, IN, Grand Rapids, MI, and Austin, TX. The branch in Washington is headquarters to CFI's Office of Public Policy, which represents CFI's interests on Capitol Hill.
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“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)