Many readers will recall a provocative Oliphant cartoon, which was circulated nationally and seen on the editorial pages of our newspapers during the 1976 Patricia Hearst trial. It caricatures the essence of our plight. Consider again its portrayal of a white-bearded defense psychiatrist gliding into the courtroom balanced precariously on roller skates; with a propellered beanie on his head, a ...

Efforts to understand and remedy the rejection of science are impeded by lack insight into how it varies in degree kind around world. The current work investigates skepticism 24 countries ( N = 5,973). Results show that while some stand out as generally high or low skepticism, predictors relatively similar across countries. One notable effect was consistent though stronger Western, Educated, In...

This discussion surveys recent developments in the treatment of the epistemologi-cal problem of skepticism. These are arguments which attack our knowledge of certain truths rather than, say, our belief in the existence of certain entities. In particular , this article focuses on the radical versions of these skeptical arguments, arguments which purport to show that knowledge is, for the most pa...