On Truth and Falsity

                       The Dogmatism of the Skeptics

The skeptics use their own forms of logic and reason to reach conclusions that they believe to be true. When they do this, they contradict their own doctrine that everyone should suspend judgment as to what could be true or false. The skeptics make judgments. One cannot make judgments without some idea of what is true and false. They judge that human intellect happens to be incapable of reaching any conclusion as to what is real or unreal. Their dogmatic truth happens to be that human intellect and reasoning powers are pretty much useless, except for their own.

They also judge that any conclusion to which the dogmatists may reach by inquiry can only be impossible. They apply an impossible infinity test to any conclusions that the dogmatists logically come to. In order to judge anything as being impossible, one must have a true idea of the possible. Their dogmatic truth happens to be that the logic and reason of the dogmatists can only be impossible, but their own logical judgment that no one can ever tell the difference between truth and falsity has to be absolutely possible. The skeptics thus conclude that the possible is true and and the impossible is false. One wonders why the skeptics do not suspend judgment as to the truth and falsity of that belief.

The skeptics further conclude that the dogmatists cannot know the difference between truth and falsity because they all disagree with each other. But the skeptics ignore the fact that each dogmatist uses his own form of logic and reason to make inquiries as to what could be true or false. The dogmatists use systems of speculation and opinion that can be investigated to determine if any of their conclusions could be true or false. The dogmatists get most of their ideas wrong, but they still have the right to formulate systems of speculation and opinion by the use of their logic and reason. If the possible is true, as the skeptics admit, then it is quite possible that the dogmatist could get some of their ideas right. The ancient dogmatic philosophers got most of their conclusions wrong, but just the fact that they tried to advance human knowledge contributed to the advancement of civilization. Many scientists postulate theories that upon investigation later prove to be false but they should be commended for trying to discover the truth. Even false speculations prove to be useful for the discovery of truth because they all can be usefully discarded and put out of reality. The skeptics actually dogmatically assert that their own form of logic and reason should be the only one considered to be true, and all other forms of reason and logic should be considered absurd. A logical judgment that something is absurd means that one must consider the opposite forms of logic to be true.

The truth that the skeptics actually reach for themselves is that human logic and reason, except for their own, is pretty much useless, and that humans are really not much better than animals, and therefore, humans should adopt the amoral lifestyle of the animals. Human civilizations are pretty much based on philosophy, and so humans can thank God that the philosophy of the skeptics was never adopted by any and all civilizations because if it had been, then all human progress would have come to an abrupt halt.