ESTAGA JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, ARTS AND HUMANITIES

Skepticism occupies a fundamental place in the historical evolution of the Western philosophical enterprise. In fact, the history of philosophy reveals that Epistemology, a major branch of philosophy, emerged as a response to the position taken by skeptics. The core perspectives in epistemology have arisen either in defense of, or in opposition to, various forms of skepticism. Indeed, one could classify various theories of knowledge by their responses to skepticism. For example, rationalists were skeptical about the possibility of empirical knowledge while not being skeptical with regard to a priori knowledge, and empiricists were skeptical about the possibility of a priori knowledge but not so with regard to empirical knowledge. While there are other works on skepticism, this paper distinguishes itself by its study of the skeptical position and strategy in relation to the development of epistemology. Its focus would be extended to the general forms of skepticism that question our knowledge in the many domains in which we ordinarily think knowledge is possible. This would be followed with an evaluation of the position of skeptics. The historical and analytical methods of inquiry will be employed for the development of this paper. The study submits that skepticism played a very fundamental role in the development of philosophy, and particularly, epistemology. Skepticism is a major pivot on which epistemology and in fact philosophy revolves.

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