View source for Doubt

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==Overview==

'''Doubt''', a status between [[belief]] and [[wikt:disbelief|disbelief]], involves [[uncertainty]] or [[distrust]] or lack of sureness of a fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "[[reality]]", and may involve delaying relevant action out of concerns for mistakes or faults.  

The term "to doubt" can also mean "to [[question]] one's circumstances and [[personal life | life]]-[[experience]]".  

== Impact on society ==

Doubt sometimes tends to call on [[reason]]. It may encourage people to [[procrastination|hesitate]] before acting, and/or to apply more [[rigour|rigorous]] methods. Doubt may have particular importance as leading towards disbelief.

[[Politics]], [[ethics]] and [[law]], faced with important decisions that often determine the course of individual [[personal life | life]], place great importance on doubt, and often foster elaborate [[adversarial process]]es to carefully sort through all the evidence to come to a [[decision]].

One view regards the [[scientific method]], and to a degree all of [[science]], as entirely motivated by doubt: rather than accepting existing theories, scientists express systematic or [[Habit (psychology) | habitual]] doubt ([[skepticism]]) and devise [[experiment]]s to test (and, optimally, to disprove) any theory.  Some commentators {{who?}} see [[technology]] as simply the expansion of the experiments to a wider user-base, which takes real [[risk]]s with it.  Users may no longer doubt the applicability of the theory in play, but there remain doubts about how it interacts with the real world.  The process of [[technology transfer | technology-transfer]] stages exploitation of science to ensure the minimization of doubt and danger.

== Psychology ==

[[Psychoanalysts]]{{who?}} often attribute doubt, which they may interpret as a symptom of a [[phobia]] emanating from the [[ego]], to [[childhood]], when the ego develops. Childhood experiences, these traditions maintain, can plant doubt about one's abilities and even about one's very [[identity]]. The influence of parents and other influential figures often carries heavy connotations onto the resultant [[self-image]] of the child/[[Ego, super-ego, and id|ego]], with doubts often included in such self-portrayals.

[[Cognitive]] mental as well as more [[spirituality|spiritual]] approaches abound in response to the wide variety of potential causes for doubt — sometimes seen as a "[[Bad Thing]]". [[Behavioral therapy]], in which a person systematically asks his own [[mind]] if the doubt has any real basis, uses rational, [[Socratic method]]s. Behavioral therapists claim that any constant confirmation leads to emotional detachment from the original doubt. This method contrasts to those of say, the [[Buddhist]] faith, which involve a more [[esoteric]] approach to doubt and inaction. Buddhism sees all doubt as a negative attachment to one's perceived past and future. To let go of the personal [[history]] of one's life (affirming this release every day in [[meditation]]) plays a central role in releasing the doubts — developed in and attached to — that history. Through much spiritual exertion, one can (if desired) dispel doubt, and live "only in the [[Present (time)|present]]".

=== Psychopathology===

Many people associate "excessive" doubt  with [[obsessive-compulsive disorder]], sometimes nicknamed a "disease of doubt".

== Philosophy ==

Anything that is questionable or causes doubt, especially an argument or a claim. <!-- (The intended meaning of the previous sentence fragment is incomplete and possibly unclear.) --> 

Branches of philosophy like [[logic]] devote much effort to distinguish the dubious, the probable and the certain. Much of illogic rests on dubious assumptions, dubious data or dubious conclusions, with [[rhetoric]], [[whitewash (censorship)|whitewashing]], and [[deception]] playing their accustomed roles.

=== Religion ===

Doubt that god(s) exist forms the basis of [[agnosticism]] — possibly definable as the belief that one cannot determine the existence of god(s) — and [[atheism]], which can entail either not believing in god(s) or believing that no god(s) exist(s).  

By extension, doubt as to the existence or intentions of the Christian God applies to doubt concerning the Christian Bible as well, bringing into question its alleged status as the word of God, and propounding alternative explanations (such as a work of [[mythology]] like [[Homer]]'s ancient Greek epics the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''). Doubt of a religion itself brings into question the truth of its set of beliefs.

Christians often debate doubt in the contexts of [[salvation]] and eventual redemption in an [[afterlife]]. This issue has become particularly important in the Protestant version of the Christian faith, which requires ''only'' acceptance of Jesus as [[saviour]] and intermediary with God for a positive outcome. The debate appears less important in most other [[religion]]s and [[ethical tradition]]s.

=== Spirituality ===

In the context of [[spirituality]], people can see doubt as the opposite of [[faith]]. If faith represents a compulsion to follow a path, doubt may block that particular path. People use doubts and faith every day to [[choice | choose]] the [[life path]] that they follow; for example: “I doubt that laziness will help me achieve my goals.”

Doubt can serve to create individual [[illusion]]s to shield the [[vision]] of an unpleasant outcome.  "I doubt anyone will catch me if I rob this store."  Depending upon the energy put into the doubt, when used in this way, doubt itself has little impact on events and merely blocks the individual from seeing [[possibility | possibilities]].

== References ==

Hein, David (Winter 2006). "Faith and Doubt in Rose Macaulay's ''[[The Towers of Trebizond]]''". ''Anglican Theological Review'' 88 (1): 47-68. ISSN 0003-3286.

=== Further reading ===

* ''[[Doubt: A History]]'', a 2003 book by [[Jennifer Michael Hecht]], traces the role of doubt throughout time, all over the world, particularly regarding religion.

== See also ==

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* [[Reasonable doubt]]
* [[Doubting Thomas]]
* [[FUD]]
* [[list of ethics topics]]
* [[Methodic doubt]]
* [[question]]
* [[satire]] may arouse doubts
* [[skepticism]]
* [[The realm of possibility]]

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[[ar:دودا]]
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[[gl:Dúbida]]
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[[is:Efi]]
[[it:Dubbio]]
[[nl:Twijfel]]
[[pt:Dúvida]]
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[[uk:Сумнів]]


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