Mathematical equations and test results are the most common and in many cases the strongest support for an idea. Religion is also an extremely strong part of convincing people. A scientist must be very careful not to offend a person s deeply rooted religious beliefs with his theories. Arguments between scientists on a certain topic are very commonly seeded with emotion. If the facts are disputed then beliefs and emotions are used to convince someone of the validity of one s side.
Skeptics are thouroughly convinced that man is inherently a fool.
They looked down upun the gluttons of food and wine. It is for this reason that many skeptics were also stoics, living without physical pleasures so that their minds would be pure. Pragmatism is the epistemological belief that truth is relative to its situation. He points out that smoke could point towards a fire if the fire was something like a forest fire, but on the other hand if the smoke was coming from a lit cigar, chances are that there would be mo fire to accompany it. The forest fire undobutedly gives off a great deal of smoke, however, a butane flame gives off no smoke.