There are three postures people tend to take toward truth. Most of us drift between them depending on the topic. But philosophy sharpens when we see them clearly.
From 30 Philosophers:
“True believers cling to their dogmatic beliefs like a dog holds onto a bone; nothing will change their minds. They are right, they know they are, and they know everyone else is wrong. In contrast, true skeptics question everything, and at times, refuse to believe anything. This book uses these lenses from our anchor position, the middle ground of the empiricist. A view in which we tend to accept reasonable things as true until proven otherwise. And to be clear, most people are a combination, open-minded in some areas, closed in others.
At times, philosophy must harness the doubt of true skeptics to plant our feet firmly in reality, examining the illusory house of cards constructed by the human mind. At other times, philosophy must leave the solid ground of reality and venture into the clouds, where it delves into the dogmatic convictions of the unknowable, probing questions that defy easy answers. Sometimes, it is in those clouds that it finds the only available answers.” —30 Philosophers, Prestwood.
The key is not to live permanently in any one posture. The believer gives us conviction. The skeptic gives us caution. The empiricist gives us movement. TST plants its flag with the empiricist — not in certainty, not in paralysis, but in calibrated confidence.
