Skepticism and Political Conservatism
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In his excellent new book Epistemic Courage , Jonathan Ichikawa argues that epistemology evinces a bias towards the skeptical. In its most extreme forms (i.e., radical skepticism), this leads to complete suspension of judgment and inaction. Less extreme forms manifest themselves in a reluctance to believe what the evidence supports, and to act accordingly. Ichikawa thinks that this is a political as well as an epistemological mistake: skepticism tends to support the status quo and is allied with some of the animating ideas of political conservatism. We reconstruct Ichikawa’s argument that skepticism is allied with political conservatism and explain why we are not convinced. We also sketch a form of skepticism that is explicitly anti-political, and so cannot be closely identified with any political ideology, conservatism included.
Authors: Robin McKenna, Chris Ranalli
Institutions: University of Liverpool, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4416068337
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