The ideology of doubt and the cynic

The ideology of doubt is the only ideology that a critical skeptic adheres to. It is the belief that nothing is certain, no one opinion or belief is absolute and there is no source for truth that is infallible and omnipotent. It is the ideology of Socrates who said that all he knows for certain is that he knows nothing at all.

To some, this may not leave much room for childlike awe and wonder when presented with new discoveries or when one witnesses a breathtaking sunset. There is not much wiggle room for the critical skeptic when presented with new information. We doubt it until there is enough evidence to back up the claims. So does this mean that we don't believe anything? Does this mean that we doubt the love and loyalty of family and friends?

The answer is no.

One of the critical skeptic's most valuable tools is simple hope. A cynic does not have hope that his friends truly love him. He doubts even that. The cynic has become jaded by the lack of evidence for the things he once wanted to be true. The cynic allows no light of discovery into their heart.

While it can be a valuable tool, the
critical skeptic is aware of the dangers of
cynicism.

While cynicism is without doubt a valuable tool, too much can poison the mind. Critical skepticism wants to know the truth and wants to find hope for the greater good of mankind in science and medicine.
As an example, imagine that a news broadcast has a focus piece on a new and apparently successful treatment for an especially vicious cancer. The critical skeptic goes onto the web or asks their physician to learn more about the new treatment. The cynic simply dismisses the broadcast out of hand. Why? It's just a news program, which gives it no veracity in and of itself and where is the evidence?

So we see that the difference is pronounced when we realize that the skeptic's reaction is to hope for the treatment to be real and seeks to prove that hope, whereas the cynic believes there's no evidence and therefore the search is irrelevant and useless to them.

A great way of keeping the cynicism at bay is to continue to read and research and observe the world of science and philosophy and medicine with a keen eye. There are a host of excellent resources for the critical skeptic which help to form a foundation to claims made. This way, if we continue to search and research, we can more fully appreciate the greater mechanisms of this world and of those ideas worthy of knowing.
The cynic simply doesn't care.