Skepticism

Skepticism, philosophical attitude of doubting all claims to knowledge, chiefly on the ground that the adequacy of any proposed criterion is itself questionable. Examples of thoroughgoing skeptics, wary of dogmatism in whatever guise, were Pyrrho of Elis (Pyrrhonism and skepticism are virtual synonyms) and David Hume. Other thinkers—among them St. Augustine, Desiderius Erasmus, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, Pierre Bayle, and Sören Kierkegaard—sought to defend faith and religion by directing skeptical arguments against the epistemological claims of rationalism and empiricism. Pragmatism and Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy represent two influential attempts to resolve skeptical dilemmas.

See also: Carneades; Pyrrho of Elis.