Why We Should Be Skeptics: From the Limits of Knowledge to Intellectual Humility

There are four levels of argument for why we should be skeptics and how skepticism leads to intellectual humility rather than intellectual arrogance. Skepticism, in this sense, does not mean the rejection of knowledge, truth, or rational judgment. It means maintaining an awareness of the limitations under which human beings acquire, interpret, and organize knowledge. We can hold convictions, construct arguments, adopt ethical principles, and act upon our understanding while simultaneously acknowledging the possibility that our understanding remains incomplete or even mistaken. 1. The Limits of Human Senses Human senses are biologically limited. The human eye perceives only a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e., 0.0035%), while human hearing generally extends from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, with considerable variation between individuals and across age. Our capacities for taste, smell, touch, and other forms of sensory perception are similarly bounded. Other organis…