Skepticism – What’s it mean?

Via Joe Nickell we get, what to date, is the best, most concise definition of skepticism I have come accross.

SKEPTICISM:

Science

Knowledge

Evidence

Postulations

Testing

Impartiality

Criticism

Investigation

Solving

Mastery

That is, with Science as a basis, one approaches some question or mystery using past Knowledge and acquired Evidence to form Postulations (or hypotheses) which undergo Testing to rank them, with Impartiality (i.e., guarding against bias) and Criticism (the act of making judgments), finally conducting an Investigation (targeted research) that results in Solving (or determining the most likely explanation for) the mystery at hand, providing Mastery over it.

Pure deliciousness! I didn’t know one could wax poetic about the word skepticism but Joe just did! Smooooooth! Love it!

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