“Doubt is the key to knowledge”, states a Persian Proverb. A seeker of knowledge must have a balanced amount of doubt in order to come to reasonable conclusion. Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty, which often leads to questioning. Skepticism is popularly used with doubt in the search for knowledge. With too little skepticism a person is seen as not only gullible, but perhaps also as stupid. Moreover, reliable knowledge becomes much harder to obtain. On the other hand, too much doubt can make the individual seem stubborn. This rejects the possibility of gaining any new knowledge. In most Areas of Knowledge a larger amount of skepticism is the key to knowledge. Arts require skepticism to gain personal knowledge, whereas the Sciences demand doubt in order to answer important questions. There are advantages and disadvantages of different levels of skepticism, but in most situations larger amounts of doubt are effective in the search for knowledge.
The arts are an Area of Knowledge in which a fair proportion of skepticism is necessary. Arts are unique as they use a great deal of emotion as a Way of Knowing. Emotion tends to alter the way each and every person perceives something. I believe that skepticism can influence the amount of emotion we have when dealing with the arts. Hung over my fireplace is a modest size oil painting of a lighthouse isolated in the middle of the ocean, the sky blanketed with dark purple and black clouds with a thunderbolt stretching down towards the water. The first time I looked at the painting I used little skepticism, which hindered my ability to know what I enjoyed about the piece of art. Sure, the colours were nice, but I did not know how the painting made me feel. The more time I spent analyzing the painting, the greater my emotions grew. Doubt allowed me to reflect and ask questions. Essentially, it allowed me to reach knowledge. The greater amount of doubt used, effectively allowed me to know my opinion on the painting. Emotion was not the root of this knowledge; however emotion was altered in the process of skepticism. As many other things in this world, the arts cannot be taken for their face value. They require a significant amount of skepticism in order to obtain knowledge about how the individual feels. The extent in which the person chooses to use doubt will significantly change not only their knowledge, but also their emotions. The effect of too much skepticism in this area of knowledge is ignorance. Doubting the artists’ intentions can make a piece of art invaluable to the viewer, which is the opposite of what art should do. Art should make the individual think, which will indirectly cause the viewer to know how they feel. The Arts should be approached with a fairly proportionate amount of doubt in order to reach personal knowledge through emotion.
