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Doug Bates's avatar

Why do you think that "political skepticism risks giving complete free rein to those who are not interested in the justification of their beliefs"? Doesn't politics require persuasion? And doesn't persuasion require justifications?

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Cyril Hédoin's avatar

Ideally, yes, political beliefs (and therefore persuasion) should require justification. But persuasion can also proceed based on prejudices, expression of "tribe affiliation," emotions, and so on. In the broadest understanding, this belongs also to "justification" but not of the rational kind that many of us have in mind. In general, skepticism encourages you to be cautious and to qualify all assertions and beliefs. But there are a lot of people who do not have the patience for that, for bad and maybe sometimes for good reasons. These people are likely to be sensitive to the arguments of those who do not let themselves impede by skepticism.

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Doug Bates's avatar

So it's that political skepticism gives free rein to those who would eschew *rational* justifications. Okay, but how is that any different from political dogmatism? How is it that the people who lack patience are at any greater risk from the free rein of political skepticism than they are of political dogmatism?

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