What Has Happened to Skepticism?

[paarsurrey]

Suppose a man has never experienced dream and sleep states of consciousness. If I tell him about those states he will likely ridicule me.
Now, the experience of divinity, of singularity, of the realm that is devoid of 'I - You' dichotomy is a different consciousness level. One who is skeptical of objective reality of the mundane waking state actually should intuit the provisional-transient nature of the waking state experience and its objects and should be open to other forms of consciousness.
But it is commonly not so. What goes as skepticism today rather is a clinging to sense experiences as objectively real, without bothering to investigate the nature of the experiencer.
It does not matter but. Eventually when material prosperity and satiation will fail to remove the sadness of life, one is bound to question.

Quest of Truth is unending. Yes.
Regards

 

[Erebus]

I was having a long talk with a friend the other day about modern days "skeptics". It seems to us that most people who take the title really aren't all that skeptical. Skepticism, instead of being the deep seated doubt it once was, seems to have become identical with the acceptance of atheistic materialism and unassailable doubt for anything else. I'm wondering if we're alone in noticing this, and what the cause is.

We all construct our own world as a result of our nature, experience, culture and expectations. Now I don't doubt that there are skeptics out there who arrive at an atheist-materialist viewpoint as a result of their experiences, introspection and critical thinking. I also don't doubt that there are "skeptics" who adopt a ready-made worldview because it's easier than seeking new experiences or engaging in introspection and critical thinking.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I was having a long talk with a friend the other day about modern days "skeptics". It seems to us that most people who take the title really aren't all that skeptical. Skepticism, instead of being the deep seated doubt it once was, seems to have become identical with the acceptance of atheistic materialism and unassailable doubt for anything else. I'm wondering if we're alone in noticing this, and what the cause is.

You make it sound like skeptics have pre-decided the facts that they're going to accept and then reject everything else. This just isn't true.

What really goes on is that skeptics accept new - and sometimes paradigm-shattering - claims all the time. When they get accepted based on strong evidence, they get labelled "materialist".

In my experience, the label "supernatural" generally gets applied to two types of things:

- real things we don't understand well enough or that aren't supported by evidence to the point where we can be sure they exist, and
- things that don't exist at all.

Normally, once a "supernatural" thing becomes obvious enough that we can say that it really exists, it stops being "supernatural" and becomes "natural" or "material".

Of course, if you can show me some supernatural claims that are rejected by the skeptic community despite compelling evidence, I'll be happy to change my mind.

 

[Taylor Seraphim]

I was having a long talk with a friend the other day about modern days "skeptics". It seems to us that most people who take the title really aren't all that skeptical. Skepticism, instead of being the deep seated doubt it once was, seems to have become identical with the acceptance of atheistic materialism and unassailable doubt for anything else. I'm wondering if we're alone in noticing this, and what the cause is.

What happened to it?

Nothing really.

Just with more science there is less god of the gaps.

 

[Kueid]

I don't know.. I only know what other people say to me about the word, so I really don't know what happened to it... did it change from a previously definition held by society? Probably, this happens a lot.. what we are discussing here? cause that the word changed its meaning is virtual impossible for us to know without a time machine.. or isn't?

 

[1137]

What happened to it?

Nothing really.

Just with more science there is less god of the gaps.

So I take it you could prove, say, that the world exists free from your mind?

 

[Taylor Seraphim]

So I take it you could prove, say, that the world exists free from your mind?

Nope.

I just believe it because it is more probable than there not being a world that exist free from my mind.

 

[Kueid]

Nope.

I just believe it because it is more probable than there not being a world that exist free from my mind.

how much more probable?

 

[Taylor Seraphim]

how much more probable?

Slightly more.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

So I take it you could prove, say, that the world exists free from your mind?

I never thought solipsism was a particularly useful thought exercise. Either I don't proceed because I think my existence is an isolated event and nothing else is real, or I proceed because the universe is still worthy of exploration even if it only exists in my head.

 

[Ouroboros]

I never thought solipsism was a particularly useful thought exercise. Either I don't proceed because I think my existence is an isolated event and nothing else is real, or I proceed because the universe is still worthy of exploration even if it only exists in my head.

While your head and mind is only emergent properties of that same world that just exists in your head...

 

[paarsurrey]

What Has Happened to Skepticism?

It is good if they have realized that they become excessively Skeptic when they put on the label of Skepticism on them.
Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

I was having a long talk with a friend the other day about modern days "skeptics". It seems to us that most people who take the title really aren't all that skeptical. Skepticism, instead of being the deep seated doubt it once was, seems to have become identical with the acceptance of atheistic materialism and unassailable doubt for anything else. I'm wondering if we're alone in noticing this, and what the cause is.

No surprise in it, Skepticism was not the first to teach humans to doubt. It is a natural attribute of human beings to doubt where they see some anomaly. If there is no need to doubt, then one should not doubt.
Regards