Skepticism Is Defined as a School of

Skepticism is defined as a school of philosophical thought where a person doubts the beliefs of another person or group. While one person might believe wholeheartedly a certain political perspective or believe completely the dogma of a religion, a skeptic would have doubts about these beliefs or about the stories related to religion. Not only do they doubt organized religion, they also doubt the validity of socially constructed morals and laws.

Sometimes they doubt the world as they witness it because they are unsure of the truth of reality as they perceive it through the senses (Butchvarov 1998). Like many philosophies, skepticism has origins in Ancient Greece. Pyrrho of Elis is credited with founding the philosophy, a branch of which was later named Pyrrhonism in his honor. The philosophy was expanded into countries throughout the known world, up to and including the early modern world. During the Enlightenment, skepticism branched out into scientific and religious skepticism.

Scientific skepticism questions people who believe things solely based on scientific query. At the same time, religious skepticism questions people who believe things solely based on religious conviction without using any proof to support their belief system. Rationalism: The rationalistic school of thought believes that reason is the center of the universe. Reason should be behind everything from governmental decisions to interpersonal relationships.

It is believed that rationalism predates Enlightenment, but there is no historical documentation to prove this although it is argued that Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle definitely argued perspectives which align with the rationalist philosophy. During the Enlightenment, philosophers and other intellectual individuals took to rationalism as an extension of concurrent scientific discoveries. They advocated the utilization of rationalism in governmental policy making and advocated "politics of reason" wherein leaders would use rationing in decision making, as well as a separation from religion (Oakeshott 1991).

Rene Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz, and Baruch Spinoza were three philosophers of the period who popularized the ideals of rationalism in scientific and mathematic articles. These gentlemen believed that you could apply mathematical principles to all aspects of existence, and thereby uncover all the mysteries of the universe. For example, geometry with its exploration of shapes, congruency, and three-dimensional planes could be applied to other questions of logic, in addition to fields such as archaeology.

In the eighteenth century, Immanuel Kant helped elaborate on realist principles, including that natural laws are dictated by the perspectives of human beings. There has been a revival of rationalism in recent years, led by Leo Strauss. Empiricism: According to the philosophy of empiricism, all of the knowledge that a person acquires during his or her lifetime is because of the various experiences that they have. It is believed that scientific method is directly related to the expansion of empiricism throughout Europe and England.

The scientific method is a series of rules which dictate the proper order of scientific inquiry. It also states that all scientific theories should be based on things that we observe through experimentation. People should believe what they can see based upon scientific experimentation and not through hypothesizing without proof. Aristotle is credited as being the first empiricist philosopher. Later on, Niccolo Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini wrote about the perspective which were then rewritten and distributed throughout Europe (Baird & Kaufmann 2008).

Other great Renaissance figures also believed in this philosophy, including Leonardo da Vinci, arguably one of the most intelligent men who ever lived. He advocated that people should have as many experiences as possible, especially if those experiences pushed a person beyond their comfort zone, for that is the place in which we learn the most. Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume helped popularize the philosophy anew during and following the Enlightenment period.

Besides empiricism in its own right, the philosophy also proved to be the basis of others, including logical empiricism and pragmatism. Realism: The realist philosophy is a belief that reality always exists, regardless of how human beings perceive that reality. Regardless of how we perceive the world through religion or personal experience or governmental policy, there are aspects of the world which simply are. Realism can be applied to minds and intelligence, the past, present, and future, morality, the material world, thought, and of course, mathematics.

Truth is a separate concept that exists in a realm somewhere between the mind's perception and reality because truth simply is how humans interpret reality. The first recorded reference to realism is found in medieval translations of Greek writings. This indicates that the philosophy dates back to the time of Plato at the very least. Like the other philosophies, the philosophy was rediscovered during the period of Enlightenment.

The Scottish School of Common Sense, founded by Thomas Reid, Adam Ferguson, and Dugald Stewart built their version of realism based upon the writings of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Reid argued that the only forms of government that made sense to have would be those that benefited the people of that nation (Cuneo & Woudenberg 2004). He believed that ideology, whether it is political, religious, or nationalistic, should be based upon common sense above all things. Existentialism: The existentialists praised independence, individuality, and personal autonomy above all things.

What was important was the sense of self and living according to your own core values, even if they were counter to what was considered socially or legally acceptable. It was not enough to be a mind, but rather that the whole human being had to be taken into account, including actions, emotions, and feelings, in addition to thoughts. The movement was popularized in Germany and then certain European countries. The most important existential philosophers were Georg Hegel, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger who all wrote during the mid-twentieth century.

Other noted existentialists include the French writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sartre.