Summary:
A dictionary's definition of skepticism is, "A doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind." Although we are inclined in today's society to accept ideas without questioning them, the leading thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment exemplify the importance of developing one's own opinion and not automatically trusting the opinions of others.
When I first read the prompt to this essay I questioned myself about what I thought skepticism really meant. I had a general idea but something in the back of my mind told me to search for it in the dictionary. A dictionary definition of skepticism would be, "A doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind." As I thought about it I realized that we do this everyday, we question authority and other people's ideas. When is it appropriate to do so anyways?
Leading thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were skeptics. Whether it was for their own knowledge or curiosity they still doubted the way natural things in life were explained by the church.
If you think about it, it is important to question or have a critical attitude authority because they may not always be right. If people like Copernicus didn't hypothesize that the earth is not the center of the earth then we would still be living with geocentric points of views. It is never a good idea to accept some ideas without questioning them but unfortunately we do this everyday. In classes we take the teachers' word for it, for all we know all the information we are given is false. Not many of us take the time to do our own research and try to find our own truths. In our society we have come to trust what others have told us. It's not as crucial for us to question other people's ideas but it is a good idea to have our own opinions and not always trust others.
This is the complete article, containing 268 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
