In Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, what phrase names his toolkit for critical thinking?

In The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan called his toolkit for critical thinking the “baloney detection kit.”

Sagan presented the kit as a practical defense against pseudoscience, deception, and faulty reasoning. Its methods include seeking independent confirmation, considering multiple hypotheses, quantifying claims where possible, using Occam’s razor, and asking whether an idea can be tested or falsified.

The book also discusses common logical and rhetorical errors, including arguments from authority, ad hominem attacks, straw men, suppressed evidence, confusing correlation with causation, and post hoc reasoning. Sagan’s point was not merely to reject unusual claims, but to examine them with disciplined skepticism and evidence.

The phrase is closely associated with Sagan, but the idea reflects the broader scientific method: claims should be testable, evidence should be checkable, and conclusions should remain open to correction. “Logic filter,” “skeptic’s compass,” and “razor of reason” capture related ideas but are not the phrase used in the book.