---
date: '2025-12-18'
description: cartesian skepticism employing the closure principles
id: Skepticism
modified: 2026-06-05 15:08:24 GMT-04:00
tags:
  - philosophy
  - pattern
title: Skepticism
created: '2025-12-18'
published: '2025-12-18'
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---
The idea of philosophical skepticism can also be investigated from {{sidenotes[ordinary skepticism]: for example, we aren’t sure how many stars there are in the Milky Way. In a sense, this kind of skepticism claims that we do not know propositions which we ordinary think we do know.}}

From this example two points:

- most of us don’t believe in such proposition, therefore knowledge requires {{sidenotes[beliefs]: beliefs and disbeliefs are called [[thoughts/doxastic attitude]] that we can adopt towards a proposition.}}
- even those believe do not know it, because they aren’t <span class="marker marker-h2">justified</span> in believing in it, therefore knowledge requires _justification_.

The recommendation is that we can either adopt the doxastic attitude towards the proposition, but philosophers would hold a _third_ attitude (i.e bona fide doxastic attitude) towards a proposition: _we can suspend judgment (or withhold assent) with respect to it._

There is a sensitivity arguments when targeting knowledge, where it is a <span class="marker marker-h2">condition</span> on knowledge.