ABSTRACT
Scepticism can consist in a general distrust of authority, or in antagonism to unfamiliar ideas, or in hostility to conventions and traditions. In modem times the most common form of anti-traditional scepticism has to do with morality and is connected both personally and historically with a loss of religious belief. Moral scepticism has a basis in philosophy but philosophical scepticism per se extends beyond ethics and affects several different branches of enquiry. Pyrrho thus illustrated a fact hinted at by David Hume, namely, that the apparent reasonableness of sceptical principles does not mean it is safe to live by such principles. During the 16th and 17th centuries scepticism sometimes took the form of questioning the doctrines of religion. Some philosophical sceptics cast doubt on beliefs and theories that seem to most people to constitute genuine knowledge. Limited scepticism involves either doubting or rejecting the possibility of knowledge in a particular field.
