Abstract

Might doubt and uncertainty sometimes be good, rather than bad? Is it possible to wonder whether self-confidence, self-knowledge, and decisiveness are really as uniformly excellent as some people make them out to be? Are there times that people shouldn’t be so sure of themselves, or should be uncertain or otherwise skeptical about whether they know what they’re doing and why, or whether they know the things that they think they do? Should they perhaps even be skeptical in this way most, if not all, of the time? This chapter discusses these questions in connection with three types of skeptical arguments discussed in the history of philosophy, elucidating how they can also be used to induce some measure of doubt about (almost) any claim to know that could be imagined. Following that, it concludes by explaining how encouraging extensive—or perhaps even universal—doubt or skepticism might help people to live more flourishing lives.