About Skepticism

Skepticism refers to the claim that humans lack knowledge entirely. Skeptics believe that for one to be knowledgeable, then, it is necessary to write off the possibility of an error occurring. At all times, skeptics rule out that humans will never show confidence, even when knowledge is retrieved from reliable sources (Maddy 4). Skeptics, therefore, are always subject to the hallucination argument because they tend to doubt or develop a questioning attitude.

Most people will make mistakes. However, this does not reveal people are born to focus on making mistakes. Perceptions, from an individual perspective, fail to indicate the errors made by a person. It is the perceiver, on the other hand, who makes mistakes. The phrase “beauty lies in the eyes of a beholder” best explains this scenario. For instance, my approach to perceiving beauty may differ sharply from the thoughts held by someone else. Other people can hold parallel opinions to my views on beauty.

Memory ensures that emotional states are categorized, especially with sensory perception. Perception is examined from the context of cognitive psychology since memory influences judgment. Memory involves focusing on problem-solving, remembering, thinking, and imaging (Maddy 9). In the process, this helps to define the surroundings or situations people interact with at different times. Memory helps to unmask previous experiences and encounters. An example of this would involve people ceasing to walk in the woods if they previously had problems.

Introspection influences skepticism among people. By examining not only the feelings but also the conscious thoughts held by people, it is possible to make mistakes by judging other people adversely. In psychology, introspection and its related processes exclusively rely on subjecting one’s mental state to observation. In the spiritual context, introspection involves analyzing one’s soul (Maddy 13). Introspection is sometimes likened to human self-reflection. Through introspection, skepticism arises when one strives to understand self by examining behavior, motivations, emotions, and thoughts.

Reasoning, too, may be, at times, fallacious if wrong deductions are considered. Reasoning is always related to intellect, cognition, and thinking. Whether abductive, inductive, intuitive, or deductive, reasoning will continue to shape our thoughts. Skeptics, however, question and further, they doubt people’s reasoning (Maddy 17). Skepticism about the complexity of reasoning refers to views that would be justified or would be known later. This means that truths desired by people are always exposed at some point in their lives.

The four sources, perceptions, reasoning, memory, and introspection, are unreliable since they are associated with uncertainties. It is never essential for people to focus on normalizing skepticism in their daily life. When knowledge sources are unreliable, humans will keep on consuming the wrong information. Nevertheless, the mistakes committed by people sometimes allow skepticism to dictate the course of life and the flow of information. Once humans admit that they can, at times, be affected by skepticism, it is not always right to assume that no one will provide correct responses. Overall, responding to a skeptic would require having facts reveal what is right.

Works Cited

Maddy, Penelope. What Do Philosophers Do?: Skepticism and the Practice of Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2016.