7.4 Skepticism

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Define skepticism as it is used in philosophy.
• Compare and contrast global and local skepticism.
• Offer and explain a skeptical hypothesis.
• Outline the general structure of argument for global skepticism.

Philosophical skepticism is the view that some or all knowledge is impossible. A skeptic questions the possibility of knowledge—particularly justification—in some domain. A global skeptic rejects the possibility of knowledge in general. But one need not reject the possibility of all knowledge. A local skeptic questions the possibility of knowledge only in particular areas of study. One can be a local skeptic about moral knowledge or scientific knowledge. This section will first look at global skepticism and the arguments offered in support of it and then will briefly look at local skepticism.