#skeptical

...I believe there is a legitimate aim of transcendence that is more modest and perhaps more realistic. We may not be able to rule out the skeptical possibility, and we may not be able to ground our normal capacity for understanding on something in which we can have even greater confidence; but it may still be possible to show how we can reasonably retain our natural confidence in the exercise of understanding, in spite of the apparent contingencies of our nature and formation. The hope is not to discover a foundation that makes our knowledge unassailably secure but to find a way of understanding ourselves that is not radically self-undermining, and that does not require us to deny the obvious. The aim would be to offer a plausible picture of how we fit into the world. Even in this more modest enterprise both theism and naturalistic reductionism fall short. Theism does not offer a sufficiently substantial explanation of our capacities, and naturalism does not offer a sufficiently reassuring one. ↗

— Thomas Nagel

#radically-self-undermining #skeptical #nature

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#extremism #opinion #opinions #passion #rationalism

There are those who believe we have need of more literature, of a large international publishing house, of a great peace newspaper, or the like. I am rather skeptical about this idea. ↗

— Fredrik Bajer

#am #believe #great #house #i

Journalists are supposed to be skeptical, that's what keeps them digging rather than simply accepting the official line, whether it comes from government or corporate bureaucrats. ↗

— Linda Chavez

#bureaucrats #comes #corporate #digging #government

Journalists, who are skeptical to begin with, simply do not like to be lied to or made fools of. ↗

— Roger Mudd

#fools #journalists #lied #like #made

I was skeptical about doing Texas Chainsaw at first because it's such a cult classic. I'd seen some of the sequels and was not a fan of those. ↗

— Jessica Biel

#because #chainsaw #classic #cult #doing

The sky is not burning, and to claim that it is amounts to journalistic malpractice... the press only promotes the global warming alarmists and ignores or minimizes those of us who are skeptical. ↗

— Mark L. Campbell

#claim #global #global warming #ignores #journalistic

I had this notion that I could convince people who were skeptical of national Democrats to vote for me because I could bring home the bacon, or because I could find some personal pitch to them. ↗

— Brad Carson

#because #bring #convince #could #democrats

Tribulation will not hurt you, unless as it too often does; it hardens you and makes you sour, narrow and skeptical. ↗

— Edwin Hubbel Chapin

#hardens #hurt #makes #narrow #often

I'm very skeptical about the good intentions of Milosevic. ↗

— Warren Christopher

#good #good intentions #i #intentions #milosevic