The document discusses the importance of doubt in gaining knowledge. It argues that doubt is key to advancing knowledge in fields like human science, natural science, and history. In human science, doubt has encouraged experiments to test theories about human emotions and behaviors. In natural science, doubt has led to paradigm shifts when theories could no longer adequately explain observations. And in history, doubt has pushed historians to dig deeper and uncover more objective truths about past events. While some doubt is necessary, being too skeptical can also stagnate progress; the right balance of openness and questioning is needed to advance knowledge.

1. Maiko Yoshida
Senior Seminar Period 5
December 11, 2011
Importance of Doubt
“Doubt is the key to knowledge”, Persian Proverb once said. Basically,
definition of doubt is a feeling of being not sure whether something is true or right, and
it is also known as skepticism. If all human being accepts everything without
questioning or doubting, we will tend to be gullible and believe anything. Therefore, we
have to raise some preliminary doubts about knowledge that is derived from language,
perception, reason and emotion. Doubt is an important step to get closer to have the
reasonable truth. The great extents in areas of knowing are in human and natural science
and history.
Human science is an attempt to reduce the mystery by studying human
behavior and it has to do with such things as psychology, anthropology and human
emotions. Many people doubt that scientists can really get knowledge of human beings
because human science contains a lot of problem throughout scientific method. This
doubt encourages scientists to make experiments to check if human emotions are
measurable, such as the milligram experiment. Some people question that this
experiment is ethically wrong since the volunteers are misled about what they are
getting involved in, are made to feel uncomfortable during the experiment, and may
suffer a permanent loss of self-esteem once the experiment is over. Because of these

2. issues, milligram experiment has reexamined. In this way, doubt has pushed the
increase of knowledge in these fields of human science. Such knowledge is very
valuable because it can tell if human emotions are universal or learned by different
cultures. This knowledge helps illustrate that all human beings share the same emotions
no matter what they look like.
In natural science, people try to find the truth by making observations and
hypothesis, testing experiment, discovering law and theory. People tend to believe
natural science because the theory is made sure throughout scientific method, but this
method also contains some problems. Even though some people argue that scientists
should constantly be questioning their assumptions, usually scientists tend to solve
problems within a paradigm which former scientists has made before. For example,
irregularity in the orbit of Uranus did not lead scientists to question Newtonian
mechanics but tried to solve within the framework of Newtonian mechanics. However,
there is no thing as a perfect theory in natural science. When scientists become question
the former theory, become dissatisfied with the prevailing paradigm and it seems to be
better explanation, it will replace the old one. The shift from the geocentric to the
heliocentric model of the universe and the replacement of Aristotelian physics by
Newtonian mechanics are example of this scientific revolution. In this way, doubt
pushes the limit of human capability with regards to knowledge. More we look for
answer, more we find. More we find raises more questions, which will bring more
knowledge.
Knowledge in history comes from primary sources, secondary sources, diaries,

3. eyewitnesses and so on. In history, it’s very difficult to look objectively because of bias
in language or control of information. Doubt in the truth of what history says at the
moment will encourage historians to dig deeper to look for more information to get a
better overall picture of what really happened. This means doubting what two sides say
in a conflict because of bias. But in what they say, there must be some point of truth; so
doubting both side accounts encourages looking deeper to uncover the real truth behind
the conflict. Such as how far back in time the causes of World War I go and how much
of the Treaty of Versailles is still causing problems a hundred years later. By doubting
history is simple will bring more knowledge of how actions in one time can cause
problems in another time. Therefore, that knowledge may help to solve present
problems and prevent problems in the future.
In this way, doubt provides great opportunity to get closer to have the truth.
Of course, doubting is important in many subjects, but being too skeptical is also a
danger. Just because an idea does not fit our currently accepted theories does not
necessarily mean that it is wrong. Danger of being too skeptical is that intellectual
progress will grind to a halt and knowledge stagnates. Therefore, people have to find a
balance between being open to new ideas and questioning your beliefs. That is a
shortest way to get the truth.