Skepticism

Skepticism, spelled scepticism in British English, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. Skeptics normally recommend not disbelief but suspension of belief, maintaining a neutral attitude that neither affirms nor denies a claim, often because the available evidence seems insufficient to support it. Formally, skepticism is a topic of interest in philosophy, particularly in epistemology, and some theorists distinguish good or moderate skepticism, which seeks strong evidence before accepting a position, from radical skepticism. This entry is the general tradition, of which the ancient schools recorded separately in this atlas, Pyrrhonism and Academic Skepticism, are particular forms.