Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Skepticism
/ˈskɛptɪsɪzəm/noun
The refusal to accept claims without evidence, and the philosophical position that certainty is unavailable.
The Greek roots
σκεπτικός
skeptikós
inquiring, reflective
σκέπτεσθαι
sképtesthai
to examine closely
Literally: “the habit of examining”
The story of the word
The Greek adjective means inquiring, not doubting: a skeptikos is someone still examining. Pyrrho's followers took the label precisely because they kept looking rather than concluding, and they treated the suspension of judgment as a route to peace of mind rather than a dead end. English formed skepticism in the 1640s. The British spelling with sc follows the Latin and French road; the American spelling with k goes back over their heads to the Greek kappa.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 1640s
Same family
scopetelescopebishopepiscopal
In a sentence
She read the press release with the skepticism of someone who had written a few herself.