An Argument for Skepticism

The argument to be offered has as its conclusion the universal form of the skeptical thesis, that is, the proposition that nobody ever knows anything to be so. The opposite of skepticism is often called dogmatism. In these terms, dogmatism is the view that certain things are known to be so. The stronger the form of dogmatism, the more sorts of things would be claimed to be known and, so, the weaker the form of skepticism which might still be allowed to hold. The very particular idea that knowing entails its being all right to be certain is suggested, further, by the fact that knowing entails, at least, that one is certain. The attitude of certainty concerns any sequence of experience or events which could consistently be presented to a sentient subject, without its description prejudging the issue on which it might supposedly bear.