Skepticism

Skepticism is the only philosophy that is proven wrong before anything has been proven. Before you set out to prove anything, you must assume that there are things that can be demonstrated. If you proved skepticism, it would be wrong, and if the proof itself would be a contradiction, it is also wrong. Skepticism is therefore not a theory anyone can believe in, it’s just an attitude. But why adopt an attitude that with absolute certainty is wrong?

Nevertheless, it is probably the most popular philosophy nowadays. People present themselves as profound thinkers when they arrogantly shrug their shoulders and declare that they don’t believe in anything. Instead of despairing about their disability to ever reach a conclusion, they consider it a point of pride. “I know nothing and I’m proud of it.” Of course the same people will later assert their great knowledge of any number of issues and thus at least prove their idle coquetry.

We can’t know anything for sure, that has been known since Socrates rocked the cradle of philosophy, but it’s very different from not wanting to know and not believing that something is true.

Do you have to believe in something? Yes, how else can you conduct an inquiry if you don’t believe in the steps you take on the way. Granted, you would never know it for sure even if you found the truth, but since it must exist, a lover of knowledge can’t avoid searching for it. As you make inquiries, you find certain interpretations convincing, you believe in them and then you are ready to proceed to the next level of closeness to what might be the truth. What else would you do in the world of ours?

The skeptic doesn’t believe in the need to believe, and therefore believes without a shred of evidence.