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Scepticism, ironically, draws its life's blood from claims to have a good deal of knowledge. For example, your friends claim to know, 'Since every possible option has not been explored, nothing can be said for certain.' That statement is itself a claim to knowledge!
William Lane Craig
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Scepticism questions the validity of knowledge, highlighting that even claims to knowledge can be seen as paradoxical.

This quote by William Lane Craig emphasizes the inherent contradiction in scepticism, where the very act of claiming uncertainty or lack of knowledge actually constitutes a form of knowledge itself. It suggests that sceptical arguments often rely on assumptions that are paradoxical, as they depend on knowledge assertions while simultaneously denying certainty.

Themes

ScepticismKnowledgeUncertaintyParadoxPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

Use this quote in a debate about the nature of knowledge and belief.

More from William Lane Craig

Therefore, when a person refuses to come to Christ it is never just because of lack of evidence or because of intellectual difficulties: at root, he refuses to come because he willingly ignores and rejects the drawing of God's Spirit on his heart. No one in the final analysis really fails to become a Christian because of lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with God.
William Lane CraigRead
The Christian faith does not call for us to put our minds on the shelf, to fly in the face of common sense and history, or to make a leap of faith into the dark. The rational person, fully apprised of the evidence, can confidently believe.
William Lane CraigRead
Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith. People who simply ride the roller coaster of emotional experience are cheating themselves out of a deeper and richer Christian faith by neglecting the intellectual side of that faith.
William Lane CraigRead
No one in the final analysis really fails to become a Christian because of lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with God.
William Lane CraigRead
It's no longer enough to teach our children Bible stories; they need doctrine and apologetics.
William Lane CraigRead

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