Scepticism is refusing to believe a thing simply because you were told it. It is the raised eyebrow at a miracle cure, the person who asks who paid for the study, the friend who wants to see the receipt.
Spelling first: British English writes scepticism and sceptic, American English writes skepticism and skeptic, and they are one word wearing two coats. It takes ABOUT or OF — scepticism about the plan, scepticism of the official numbers — and news is greeted with scepticism or met with scepticism. In science and philosophy it stops being a mood and becomes a method: the rule that a claim must bring evidence before it earns belief, and that you hold your judgement until the evidence turns up. Healthy scepticism is a compliment; cynicism is not, because a cynic has stopped believing anything at all, while a sceptic is still waiting to be convinced.
1nounscepticismThe habit of doubting what you are told.
“He listened to the sales pitch with open scepticism.”
2nounlogicThe principle that a claim needs evidence before it is believed.
“Scientific scepticism is what stops a bad result from becoming a fact.”
Also accepted in games: skepticism
Scepticism is sceptic with -ism added, the suffix that turns a kind of person into the whole position they stand for. A sceptic doubts; scepticism is that doubting taken up as a habit and, later, as a method.
Equivalent to sceptic + -ism.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Big Ideas