Why are people SKEPTICAL?

Question

A little healthy skepticism is a good thing. But how can people
deny their own experiences?
The word skeptic comes from a town in ancient Greece called
Skepsis. It was a place where the people knew nothing about
what went on outside of their own little town. The word skeptic
was a put down.
So whenever a person prides him or herself on being a skeptic,
they pride themselves on the fact the don't know anything!

Answer 1

~Maybe you should hit the books a little harder next time so you have some clue as to that which you attempt to condemn.

Pyrrho, the father of skepticism, was from Elis and he postulated his theories during his travels, with Alexander the Great, which took him through most of the known world. Arcesilaos and Carneades came alone much later and refined the philosophy. Finally Sextus Empiricus refined the philosophy by incoproating what later became known as Empiricism, the basis of empirical research, science and thought.

Essentially, skepticism was an answer to the dogmatic Stoics and, in its simplest form, simply says that one should not accept a "truth" without testing it, and even with empirical evidence, no "truth" is absolute (an oversimplification and not totally accurate). Actually, the skeptics did not pride themselves on knowing nothing. Quite the contrary; they were smart enough to know they should not accept something as truth simply because a purported authority stated it was so. They had this bizzarre notion that "facts" required proof and that knowledge was attainable only by researching, testing and questioning.

Descartes and Hume, among others, were latter day skeptics. The skeptics were hardly reviled, and their philosophies and contribution to the scientific method was the seed from which the Age of Enlightenment sprang. Today, politicians and clergymen are scared to death of skeptics. Thinking people have a tendency to see through the bull.

If you are smart, you won't accept this answer without checking it out and doing your own research. A good skeptic would do that.

Answer 2

words mean different things to different people, plus the dictionary usually has 4 or 5 mieanings for something. Skeptical usually means (how we use it) the person wants more proof before they make a decision, and that is prudent.

Answer 3

well people are skeptical because when people hear things that they personally havent experienced or been taught to be true or experience something of the same nature they have to be skeptical to keep them beleiving what they know already and not beleive anything else. what i just wrote probably dosent make sense to anyone but me. but thats my input.

Answer 4

People are skeptics because we are lied to so oftern. And, we lie just as much ourselves. We can't believe a word dubya, cheney or rumsfeld say. Business, ( car dealers, lawyers, real estate agents ) make money from lying.

Answer 5

Skeptics I can understand. They know to be leary of new ideas, but not to discount then immediatly because it seems odd. They

A cynical person rejects ideas for any reason regardless of validity according to their origin or preconceived concepts.

Answer 6

I don't think these kind of skeptics even read these questions and answers.

Answer 7

Is this a trick question?

Answer 8

If someting is too good to be true, then it probably is. LIFE EXPERIENCES!