Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Skepticism: The Philosophy and Movement of Doubting the General Narrative
    Skepticism: The Philosophy and Movement of Doubting the General Narrative
    Skepticism: The Philosophy and Movement of Doubting the General Narrative
    Ebook65 pages50 minutes

    Skepticism: The Philosophy and Movement of Doubting the General Narrative

    By Gary Dankock

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book consists of two titles, which are the following:



    Book 1: Skepticism is a philosophical movement that has been in existence for centuries. And even though some may call it old and outdated, studying this concept can bring enlightenment to the soul. Sometimes, being skeptical is erroneously connected to simply being negative. But this assumption is far from the truth.


    In this guide, you will learn how the skepticism movement has evolved over the past few centuries, what it is today, how it makes complete sense and how it differs from cynicism. These things are explained in a handful of pages, but the information you can get out of this, is well worth your time.



    Book 2: Today, we will take a look at the skeptical movement and ponder its significance, development, and application. This movement is worldwide and has been acknowledged by prominent scholars and theorists.


    We will also explore the concepts of criticism, parapsychology, the role of science in skepticism, and the subtle art of being positive while being skeptical. Skepticism helps us think critically and question statements and claims, which helps us get closer to the truth. If this is something you’d like to get better at, then I encourage you to take a look at this book.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnonymous
    Release dateNov 16, 2020
    ISBN9791220223034

    Read more from Gary Dankock

    Related to Skepticism

    Related ebooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Critical Thinker

      Apr 16, 2023

      ANAXIMANDER AND THE NATURE OF SCIENCE, by Carlo Rovelli (Allen Lane, $40) Most scientists know what science is until someone asks them to define it, and then they don’t. It’s something to do with precision and accuracy, so you’d think there was a pre

      3 min read

    • Article

      We Have to Talk About Doubt: How to tell the difference between scientific and conspiratorial skepticism.

      Sep 1, 2021

      What is the role of reasonable doubt in advancing science? And how should we contrast scientific doubt with the cavilling doubt of conspiracy theories which play little part in advancing understanding? Over the last year we have seen the scientific m

      5 min read

    • Article

      This Essentially Meaningless Conflict

      Sep 22, 2017

      MARILYNNE ROBINSON’S accomplishments are impressive by any standard: she has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the National Humanities Medal, among other honors. But perhaps a better measure o

      8 min read

    • Article

      Herbert Spencer’s Principle of Equal Freedom: Is It Well Grounded?

      Sep 1, 2020

      During the mid-to late nineteenth century, Herbert Spencer was the most widely read philosopher in the world. A large part of his appeal was owing to his ambition of providing a complete and comprehensive account of human reality based on scientific

      38 min read

    • Article

      Why Science Should Stay Clear of Metaphysics: Meet the philosopher who revived anti-realism.

      Sep 8, 2016

      Philosophers of science are not known for agreeing with each other—contrariness is part of the job description. But for thousands of years, from Aristotle to Thomas Kuhn, those who study what science is have roughly categorized themselves into two ba

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Science of Early Buddhism

      Feb 6, 2018

      The Science of Early Buddhism
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rebel Greek Philosophers

      Mar 23, 2023

      Rebel Greek Philosophers
      6 min read

    • Article

      Differing Worldviews

      Jun 15, 2023

      Nicholas Spencer One World 2023 Hb, 528pp, £25, ISBN 9780861544615 Many people today share the view of the distinguished American scientist Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion are two “non-overlapping Magisteria”. In other words, two entirely

      3 min read

    • Article

      Dogmatism Be Damned!

      Nov 5, 2020

      Dogmatism Be Damned!
      7 min read

    • Article

      Why Science Needs Metaphysics: Science can’t tell us whether science explains everything.

      Oct 1, 2015

      Technology cannot keep pace with theoretical predictions about subatomic reality coming from physics. The same applies to our ability to observe the far reaches of the universe. Theory outstrips data and can become more extravagant with the claims it

      6 min read

    • Article

      Can Science Hold All The Answers?

      Oct 27, 2022

      MEASURABILITY, REPRODUCIBILITY, independent verification, accurate predictions — these are the criteria that have elevated scientific experimentation to the arbiter of truth in modern society. Besides the long and impressive history of accomplishment

      6 min read

    • Article

      Five Short Stories About the Life and Times of Ideas: A complexity theorist explores how science and culture co-evolve.

      Apr 30, 2015

      In the following five short chapters, David Krakauer, an evolutionary theorist, and president elect of the Santa Fe Institute, haven of complex systems research, examines five facets of chain reactions, each typifying how ideas spread through science

      10 min read

    • Article

      Ancient Greek Philosophers

      Nov 5, 2020

      Thales of Miletus is often considered to be the first philosopher and the father of Western philosophy, who founded the pre-Socratic Ionian school. At the time, the Greeks explained the origin of the world and natural events through myths and the sup

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hypatia Of Alexandria

      Oct 19, 2021

      Hypatia Of Alexandria
      8 min read

    • Article

      Why Fortean?

      Oct 7, 2021

      FORTEAN TIMES is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874–1932). Born of Dutch stock i

      1 min read

    • Article

      Whyfortean?

      Jul 15, 2021

      FORTEAN TIMES is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874–1932). Born of Dutch stock i

      1 min read

    • Article

      Why Fortean?

      Jun 16, 2022

      FORTEAN TIMES is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874–1932). Born of Dutch stock i

      1 min read

    • Article

      Why Fortean?

      Jan 5, 2022

      FORTEAN TIMES is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874–1932). Born of Dutch stock i

      1 min read

    • Article

      Why Fortean?

      Nov 4, 2021

      FORTEAN TIMES is a monthly magazine of news, reviews and research on strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities, prodigies and portents. It was founded by Bob Rickard in 1973 to continue the work of Charles Fort (1874–1932). Born of Dutch stock i

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Reality Ouroboros

      Sep 4, 2024

      “Among the roots of your classicism you must include your passions for the stars.” —Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living What is reality? And is there just one reality or many, perhaps infinitely many? And how should we describe these realities, wi

      4 min read

    • Article

      Reassessing The Miraculous

      Nov 5, 2020

      Miracles in an Age of Disbelief Michael Grosso Anomalist Books 2020 Pb, £12, 228pp, ISBN 9781949501131 A new book about miracles might seem a throwback, conjuring up a boringly predictable debate about why God is willing to annoy rationalist material

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Skepticism

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Skepticism - Gary Dankock

      Skepticism

      Chapter 1: Skepticism in Philosophy

      Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, in Western philosophy, the mindset of questioning knowledge claims stated in various areas. Skeptics have challenged the adequacy or reliability of these claims by asking what concepts they are based upon or what they actually establish. They have doubted whether some of those claims truly are, as declared, or always true, and they have challenged the purported logical premises of accepted assumptions. In everyday life, practically everyone is skeptical about some knowledge claims; but philosophical skeptics have doubted the possibility of any knowledge beyond that of the contents of straight felt experience. The original Greek meaning of skeptikos was an inquirer, a person who was disappointed and still searching for truth.

      From ancient times onward skeptics have developed arguments to weaken the contentions of dogmatic theorists, researchers, and theologians. The skeptical arguments and their work against different forms of dogmatism have played a crucial role in forming both the issues and the solutions offered in the course of Western philosophy. As age-old philosophy and science developed, doubts occurred about numerous basic, commonly accepted beliefs about the world. In ancient times, skeptics challenged the claims of Plato and Aristotle and their followers, as well as those of the Stoics; and at the time of the Renaissance comparable challenges were raised against the claims of Scholasticism and Calvinism. In the 17th century, skeptics assaulted Cartesianism (the system established by the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes) together with other theories that attempted to validate the scientific revolution initiated by Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. Somewhat later, a doubtful offensive was leveled against the Enlightenment theorist Immanuel Kant and then against the philosophical idealist Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and his followers. Each challenge caused new efforts to deal with the skeptical troubles. Skepticism, especially since the Knowledge, has come to mean shock-- mainly spiritual shock-- and the skeptic has typically been likened to the town atheist.

      Senses And Applications

      Skepticism developed with regard to different disciplines in which people claimed to have knowledge. It was questioned, for instance, whether one could acquire any certain knowledge in metaphysics (the philosophical study of the standard nature, structure, or aspects of reality) or in the sciences. In old times a primary form of skepticism was health skepticism, which questioned whether one could know with certainty either the causes or treatments of illnesses. In the area of principles, doubts were raised about accepting different mores and customs and about saying any unbiased basis for making judgments of value. Skeptics of religion have questioned the teachings of different customs. Particular approaches, like those of Kant and his Scottish contemporary David Hume, have seemed to show that no knowledge can be acquired past the world of experience and that one can't find the real causes of experienced phenomena. Any effort to do so, as Kant argued, leads to antinomies, or inconsistent knowledge claims. A dominant form of skepticism (the subject of this short article) concerns knowledge in general, questioning whether anything actually can be known with complete or sufficient certainty. This type is called epistemological skepticism.

      The various kinds of epistemological skepticism can be separated in regard to the parts in which doubts are raised-- that is, whether the doubts are directed towards reason, toward the senses, or to knowledge of things-in-themselves (things as they truly are, rather than as they appear to human observers). Forms of skepticism can also be distinguished in regard to the inspiration of the skeptic-- whether he's difficult views for ideological reasons or for practical or practical ones in order to get certain psychological goals. Amongst the chief ideological intentions have been religious or antireligious concerns. Some skeptics have challenged knowledge claims so that they could be changed by religious claims that would have to be accepted on the basis of faith. Others have challenged spiritual knowledge claims so as to conquer some orthodoxy. Sort of skepticism can also be distinguished in terms of how restricted or how thoroughgoing they are-- whether they apply only to certain parts and to certain types of knowledge claims or whether they are more general and universal.

      Ancient Skepticism

      In the West, skeptical philosophical mindsets began to appear in age-old Greece about the fifth century BCE. The Eleatic philosophers (those connected with the Greek city

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1