Why Are We Called Skeptics?

[SPQR]

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing aganist the name and I think it perfectly describes our way of thinking, but why? I mean, who was the first to decribe our way of thinking as "skepticism"? Was Harry Houdini called a "skeptic", or just, "that escape artist who exposes seances"?

Just wondering.

 

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

According to m-w.com
Etymology: Latin or Greek; Latin scepticus, from Greek skeptikos, from skeptikos thoughtful, from skeptesthai to look, consider

 

[Dr Adequate]

The wrod has changed somewhat in meaning. The original skeptics were a group of philosophers who would argue both sides of any philosophical question, and conclude that the answer was therefore unattainable.Then the word came to be used for someone who doubts things (you will sometimes hear the moon hoax people, for example, described as "skeptics" in this sense). I think our current usage is derived from the name of the magazine Skeptical Enquirer.

 

[drfrank]

Why Are We Called Skeptics?

Because "Those people who kick the asses of credulous idiots" was too much of a mouthful.