1

Why We Should Be Skeptics

Author

Student’s Affiliation

Course

Instructor

Due Date
 2

Why We Should Be Skeptics

Introduction

The knowledge of human beings on various things is not nearly as important as their

thinking. Skepticism is one of the effective defenses alongside intellectual laziness and

disordered thinking. However, human’s ability to ask questions keeps them from manipulation.

To some extent, the notion of being skeptical may appear counterintuitive at first sight. It is good

to be skeptical, for it is good to suspend judgment before coming to a conclusion when

evaluating claims or explanations. This gives an individual an opportunity to systematically

question all the information and consider all possibilities during the investigation. We can

understand that skepticism is an attitude towards something, a process of caution and logical

inquiry that needs one to apply reason to the information and ideas they are presented with.

Being skeptical gives us the courage to present directly on having a belief in something for the

reason that we see or hear about it rather than having a systematic doubt to pursue knowledge.

Therefore, this essay analyses the reasons why we should be skeptics.

Skepticism in critical thinking

Skepticism is very important in critical thinking; in most cases, a lot of people are

contented with what they know, which they settle with, and they do not have any interest to find

out what is true objectively. This means that we are content with the truth that we already have

and not the objective truth, and this may be a problem to many. According to Hermann (2020),

subjective truth, or personal truth, is when an individual believes that something is true, but it is

unique on the basis of their life experiences and perspectives; it may be true or false. A good

example of personal truth is religion, but it is not supported by any evidence; this means that it is

a fabricated, not true image of why or how things are likely to be. An objective truth is backed
 3

up by evidence; in other words, the science confirms it, and it is accepted comprehensively as an

exact reality demonstration. However, Hermann (2020) concurs that objective truth is an idea

that is simply no matter the beliefs we have to be the case, something will never change their

reality; they will always remain true or false. Whatever our beliefs are cannot define the facts of

what surrounds us. Something will always remain to be true even if we believe it is not.

Skepticism and science

Adopting the logical discipline of science and scientific technique of investigation have

been known to be the way of evaluating claims. This is a methodology that sometimes involves

carrying out experiments and defining terms. The methodology also involves adopting

Skepticism or “philosophic doubt.” As we consider all scientific methods to be important, it is

crucial to practice skepticism in order to protect ourselves from believing unsubstantiated claims.

By the fact that the effect of science on society is seen to be positive, as many scientists have

been praised for having contributed a lot to the society, according to the Organization for Autism

Research (2018), people have continued to adopt unproven claims, beliefs and bizarre treatments

remain strong. Generally, this suggests that scientific thinking is not widely practiced, although

science is lauded skepticism.

For instance, skepticism is not a view that encourages disbelief to every claim or truth;

however, it is a disposition or doubt or attitude to incredibility either towards a particular object

or to in general. It is important to maintain a skeptical outlook as it helps an individual to remain

objective in research or scientific inquiry. The scientists are forced to examine truths and claims

for them to be certain that there is enough evidence to support them. Arguably, at this point, as

presented in Organization for Autism Research. (2018), it is important to be a skeptic, this is

because skeptics do not doubt every claim but only those that are supported by data that has not
 4

been collected properly or have insufficient evidence, because they are not capable of supporting

the rationale being made or they not relevant.

Skepticism encourages skeptical inquiry that motivates an individual to get adequate and

feasible evidence and sensible grounds in any context for any claim to truth. All kinds of claims

should be examined for the quality and amount of evidence backing them up before rejection or

adoption. Therefore, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2018), if the

scientific evidence that backs them up is valid, they are treated in a particular way and are

adopted and viewed based on the evidence. Conversely, when there is no evidence supporting a

claim, or when there is no strong evidence, and its quality is poor, it is wise to reject the position

or the claim.

Simply, skepticism stands in the situation of evaluating accurately through getting a the

legitimacy of the claim of truth, an empirical evidence, and basing rejection or adoption on the

evidence. Adopting this skeptical boldness and the equivalent investigation methodology helps

lower the likelihood of going with the right treatment or claim that may not be true. However,

according to Organization for Autism Research (2018), there could be truth in extraordinary

claims, but it would require an extraordinary skeptical approach towards them on evaluation and

evidence of that evidence. Once again, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2018) presents

that skeptical thinker does not reject all claims, and at the same time, they do not accept all

claims to be true. Instead, a skeptical thinkers should have a position that they assess the

legitimacy of the evidence before coming up with a conclusion. Once again, skeptical thinker

does not reject all claims; at the same time, they does not accept all claims as true. However, a

skeptical thinker takes a position like that of getting to know the validity of evidence before

making a decision.
 5

Conclusion.

Conclusively, we should be skeptics; it will help us in critical thinking and realizing what

is true or false. However, it does not mean that one should accept that something is true because

it has been said by someone they trust or it comes from a source they trust and think that it is

reputable. Being a skeptic, an individual gains courage to vet everything through the same filter

without considering its source. People should have objective truths that are backed up by any

evidence and not always believe that what is true is true and what is false is false.
 6

References

Hermann, J. (2020). The importance of being a skeptic and asking hard questions in a startup,

business, and life. Medium. https://medium.com/swlh/the-importance-of-being-a-sceptic-

and-asking-hard-questions-in-a-startup-business-and-life-ae592e7ec224

Organization for Autism Research. (2018). The importance of skepticism: Who are you going to

believe, me or your own eyes? Organization for Autism Research | Helping Families

Today. https://researchautism.org/the-importance-of-skepticism-who-are-you-going-to-

believe-me-or-your-own-eyes/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2018). Ancient skepticism (Stanford encyclopedia of

philosophy). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-ancient/