Doubt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the mental state. For other uses, see Doubt (disambiguation .
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[hide]This article has ultiple issues! !lease help i pro"e it or discuss these issues on the tal# page. This article needs additional citations for "erification. (September 2007) This article possibly contains original research. (September 2007) This article contains $easel $ords% "ague phrasing that often acco panies biased or un"erifiable infor ation. (November 2008) Doubt, a status bet+een belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into 7uestion some notion of a perceived 4reality4, and may involve delaying or re8ecting relevant action out of concerns for mistakes or faults or appropriateness. (ome definitions of doubt emphasi9e the state in +hich the mind remains suspended bet+een t+o contradictory propositions and unable to assent to either of them:;< (compare parado2 . The concept of doubt covers a range of phenomena: one can characterise both deliberate 7uestioning of uncertainties and an emotional state of indecision as 4doubt4.

Contents

; $mpact on society = !sychology > !hilosophy ? Theology @ *a+ A (cience B (ee also C 3otes and references D Further reading

I pact on society

Doubt sometimes tends to call on reason. Doubt may encourage people to hesitate before acting, andEor to apply more rigorous methods. Doubt may have particular importance as leading to+ards disbelief or nonFacceptance. !olitics, ethics and la+, +ith decisions that often determine the course of individual life, place great importance on doubt, and often foster elaborate adversarial processes to carefully sort through all available evidence. (ocietally, doubt creates an atmosphere of distrust, being accusatory in nature and de facto alleging either foolishness or deceit on the part of another. (uch a stance has been fostered in Western 1uropean society since the 1nlightenment, in opposition to tradition and authority.

&sychology
!sychoanalysts:who?< attribute doubt (+hich they may interpret as a symptom of a phobia emanating from the ego to childhood, +hen the ego develops. &hildhood e2periences, these traditions maintain, can plant doubt about one.s abilities and even about one.s very identity. &ognitive mental as +ell as more spiritual approaches abound in response to the +ide variety of potential causes for doubt. )ehavioral therapy G in +hich a person systematically asks his o+n mind if the doubt has any real basis G uses rational, (ocratic methods. This method contrasts to those of say, the )uddhist faith, +hich involve a more esoteric approach to doubt and inaction. )uddhism sees doubt as a negative attachment to one.s perceived past and future. To let go of the personal history of one.s life (affirming this release every day in meditation plays a central role in releasing the doubts G developed in and attached to G that history.

&hilosophy
Descartes employed &artesian doubt as a preFeminent methodological tool in his fundamental philosophical investigations. )ranches of philosophy like logic devote much effort to distinguish the dubious, the probable and the certain. %uch of illogic rests on dubious assumptions, dubious data or dubious conclusions, +ith rhetoric, +hite+ashing, and deception playing their accustomed roles.

Theology

The Incredulity of Saint Thoma by &aravaggio. Doubt that god(s e2ist may form the basis of agnosticism G the belief that one cannot determine the e2istence or nonFe2istence of god(s . $t may also form other brands of skepticism, such as !yrrhonism, +hich do not take a positive stance in regard to the e2istence of god(s , but remain negative. "lternatively, doubt over the e2istence of god(s may lead to acceptance of a particular religion: compare !ascal.s Wager. Doubt of a specific theology, scriptural or deistic, may bring into 7uestion the truth of that theology.s set of beliefs. 5n the other hand, doubt as to some doctrines but acceptance of others may lead to the gro+th of heresy andEor the splitting off of sects or groups of thought. Thus protoF!rotestants doubted papal authority, and substituted alternative methods of governance in their ne+ (but still recogni9ably similar churches. &hristianity often debates doubt in the conte2ts of salvation and eventual redemption in an afterlife. This issue has become particularly important in !rotestantism, +hich re7uires only the acceptance of Jesus, though more contemporary versions have arisen +ithin !rotestant churches that resemble &atholicism. The debate appears less important in most other theologies:who?<, religions and ethical traditions.

!oubt , by #enrietta 6ae, ;CCA Doubt as a path to+ards (deeper belief lies at the heart of the story of (aint Thomas the "postle. 3ote in this respect the theological vie+s of 'eorg #ermes:

... the startingFpoint and chief principle of every science, and hence of theology also, is not only methodical doubt, but positive doubt. 5ne can believe only +hat one has perceived to be true from reasonable grounds, and conse7uently one must have the courage to continue doubting until one has found reliable grounds to satisfy the reason.:=< &hristian e2istentialists such as (Hren Iierkegaard suggest that for one to truly have belief in 'od, one +ould also have to doubt one.s beliefs about 'odJ the doubt is the rational part of a person.s thought involved in +eighing evidence, +ithout +hich the belief +ould have no real substance. )elief is not a decision based on evidence that, say, certain beliefs about 'od are true or a certain person is +orthy of love. 3o such evidence could ever be enough to pragmatically 8ustify the kind of total commitment involved in true theological belief or romantic love. )elief involves making that commitment any+ay. Iierkegaard thought that to have belief is at the same time to have doubt.:><:?<

'a$
%ost criminal cases +ithin an adversarial system re7uire that the prosecution proves its contentions beyond a reasonable doubt G a doctrine also called the 4)urden of !roof4. This means that the (tate must present propositions +hich preclude 4reasonable doubt4 in the mind of a reasonable person as to the guilt of defendant. (ome doubt may persist, but only to the e2tent that it +ould not affect a 4reasonable person.s4 belief in the defendant.s guilt. $f the doubt raised doe affect a 4reasonable person.s4 belief, the 8ury is not satisfied beyond a 4reasonable doubt4. The 8urisprudence of the applicable 8urisdiction usually defines the precise meaning of +ords such as 4reasonable4 and 4doubt4 for such purposes.

Science
%any scientific advances have been started by doubt on preceding hypothesis.

See also

Doubting Thomas Fear, uncertainty and doubt *ist of ethics topics %ethodic doubt !hilosophical skepticism Kuestion 6easonable doubt (kepticism

(otes and references

Wiki7uote has a collection of 7uotations related to: Doubt *ook up doubt or dubious in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia &ommons has media related to Doubt. ;. )u p up * (ee for e2ample: (harpe, "lfred. 4Doubt4. The "atholic #ncyclopedia$ %ol& ' (3e+ Lork: 6obert "ppleton . 6etrieved =MMCF;MF=;. 4" state in +hich the mind is suspended bet+een t+o contradictory propositions and unable to assent to either of them.4 =. )u p up * (chulte, Iarl Joseph (;D;M . 4'eorge #ermes4. The "atholic #ncyclopedia +. 3e+ Lork: 6obert "ppleton. 6etrieved =MMCF;MF=;. >. )u p up * "oncludin( )n cientific *o t cript to *hilo ophical +ra(ment , ed. by #o+ard N. #ong and 1dna #. #ong, v. ;, !rinceton ,niversity !ress, ;DD=, pp. =;O@B ?. )u p up * Soren ,ier-e(aard. /ournal and *aper , trans. #ong and %alantschuk, p.>DD.

,urther reading

)erger, !eter *. and 0i8derveld, "nton (=MMD . In *rai e of !oubt0 1ow to 1ave "onviction 2ithout 3ecomin( a +anatic. 3e+ Lork: #arper5ne. $()3 DBCFMF MAF;BBC;AF=. " book by t+o eminent sociologists, one "merican and the other Dutch. #echt, Jennifer %ichael (=MM> . !oubt0 a hi tory0 the (reat doubter and their le(acy of innovation from Socrate and /e u to Thoma /effer on and #mily !ic-in on. (an Francisco: #arper(anFrancisco. $()3 MFMAFMMDBD@FB. This book traces the role of doubt through human history, all over the +orld, particularly regarding religion. #ein, David (Winter =MMA . 4Faith and Doubt in 6ose %acaulay.s The Tower of Trebi4ond4. 5n(lican Theolo(ical 6eview CC (; : ?BFAC. $((3 MMM>F>=CA. [sho$] " t e

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