The Problem of Scepticism - Essay Example

 The Problem of Scepticism Bertrand Russell writes, “Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest of the world, and show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the commonest things of daily life.” Scepticism refers to doubt; it occurs when a person questions anything that he hears or sees and does not believe it immediately. Epistemology is based on the idea that knowledge is not complete and that it is not justified as a true form of belief. The main problem that scepticism poses is how to believe what is happening around a person and to what extent can an individual know about the happenings and events around him. This paper helps to provide an insight into the problem that doubting knowledge poses on the average human being and how to deal with the same by using postulated theories laid down by philosophers. The problem of scepticism may be divided into ‘what’ can be known by a person because every individual has a certain amount of knowledge about plenty of things and most people presume a great amount of things from the implications of the situation at hand. Some of these facts may seem to be so true to a person that anyone doubting them would be doing a very pointless job. For example, one writes with a pen on a paper; this is a very common aspect of daily living and it is not possible to be sceptic about such a statement because it is quite obvious that a pen is an instrument one uses to write on paper. However, it may so be understood that just because most people believe in a certain aspect of life, it may not actually be true. For example, earlier, people were under the impression that the world was flat and not round, however, science proved them wrong by making it clear that the Earth is round and it revolves around the sun unlike popular theory at the time according to which the Earth was the major segment of the universe around which every star and planet revolved. Optical illusions are another aspect of beliefs that most people have which do not turn out to be true in the end. Sometimes people presume that they are seeing someone familiar from a distance however on coming closer they realise that they are mistaken about the same and that it is a different person. Optical illusions play tricks on a person’s eyes and make them believe in something that does not exist. It is possible to be sceptic about everything that occurs around oneself however in that case it will not be possible to believe in what the reality or actuality of the situation is. If one keeps going on about this fashion, then it might not be easy to understand when to stop questioning and when to start believing in what is happening around a person. A man will be caught up in infinite regress if he goes on doubting everything happening around him and will not be able to differentiate between an experience and an actual situation. However, some critics question why a person should at all pay attention to scepticism because it counters everything that a person believes in. The entire idea of scepticism refutes itself or may be understood as a contradictory concept because a person has the right to turn around and question why believe in anything at all. Thus scepticism just defeats itself and nothing can be surely known. Nonetheless, if it is a veritable fact that nothing can be known then that itself is a justified argument that cannot be doubted. Thus, scepticism is a false concept according to this theory. Socrates spoke about how he knew nothing, and this was termed as academic scepticism. However, if he is openly admitting the fact to knowing nothing, then it is quite obvious that he knows something, which is that he does not know anything. Thus, this cannot be termed as scepticism. The aspect of Pyrrhonian scepticism on the other hand states that absolutely nothing can be known but if this cannot be proven or shown then why worry about its outcomes? Thus, just as a sceptic can use his arguments to prove that everything can be doubted and that it does not exist, he can also show that it actually does because of the fact that scepticism exists. Paul Newall writes, “Another way that scepticism is relevant, however, is when we consider the possibility of error. Suppose we cannot come by certain knowledge, as sceptics claims; how, then, can we explain the occurrence of mistakes? Theories of error seem to implicitly rely on dogmatism, since only those who believe we can know have to explain why we often miss the target. Skeptics, on the other hand, can just remark that of course we would expect errors, since we don’t really know in the first place.” Scepticism poses the question of accepting appearances and reality. Appearance and reality have always held a very vital thought in the minds of most philosophers because of the sheer thin line between the two aspects of life. These two subjects have remained the prime focus of philosophy as the main questions raised behind them date back to what exactly is real and what fairs in the mind or the imagination of a human being. Appearance may refer to something that simple seems to be and the reality is what the object actually is. These two aspects are normative and positive respectively and a number of philosophers like Locke, Berkeley and Descartes have written about them as their main areas of focus in order to decipher what is appearing to be and what actually is in reality. Taking the example of God as an omnipresent being, most people believe in God however He does not actually exist because people have not seen Him or felt His presence. However, when people say that they have seen Him or felt Him with them, which is the faith that has made His presence appear in front of them. This is a very good example of the distinction between reality and appearances that most philosophers have chanced upon in order to explain the difference. In conclusion, scepticism refers to doubt that people have in their minds with regard to everything around them. This paper has made use of a number of theories ranging from understanding appearances and reality to doubting the idea of the existence of scepticism itself in order to explain the problem that doubt brings across to knowledge in understanding anything that is happening around a human being. It is imperative for people to have belief and faith in a few things in life so that they are able to solidify their arguments and believe in something at least. However, doubting is a very natural part of a person and comes easily because nothing is permanent. The transient nature of life puts across doubt in people’s minds. Since scepticism itself can be doubted as per this theory, it is not possible to even believe in that fact thus ruling out the possibility of doubting everything that takes place. Works Cited Suber, Peter. (1996). Classical Scepticism. Retrieved from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/skept.htm Newall, Paul. (2005). How Epistemology 2. Retrieved from http://www.galilean-library.org/site/index.php/page/index.html/_/essays/introducingphilosophy/20-epistemology-2-r37 (2008). The Philosophical Problem of Scepticism. Retrieved from http://www.siue.edu/~wlarkin/teaching/PHIL310/outline.html (2010) Skepticism – The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism/ Read More