But you don't have to take my word for it!yesso - philosophy - Open mindedness
I've often heard of conversations similar to this:
"Your problem is that your mind is shut like a steel trap."
"Well at least my mind isn't open like a trash can, letting in all the garbage."
I've also heard this:
"I was skeptical before I saw the evidence, but it was not convincing. I am still skeptical."
These phrases indicate a misunderstanding of the notions of skepticism, closed-mindedness, and open-mindedness. If you believe that "skepticism" and "open-mindedness" are contradictory, or that "skepticism" and "closed-mindedness" are the same thing, then read on.
Let's define these terms:
A person is open-minded about an idea iff: the person considers the idea to be false only if the idea is proven false.
A person is closed-minded about an idea iff: the person considers the idea to be false without proof that it is false.
A person is skeptical about an idea iff: the person considers the idea to be true only if the idea is proven true.
By these definitions, one cannot be open-minded and closed-minded at the same time, but all other combinations are possible. In fact, skepticism and open-mindedness are not only perfectly compatible, but form the perfect combination by which you can be sure to never have any incorrect beliefs.
By contrast, here is another definition:
A person is credulous about an idea iff: the person considers the idea to be true without proof that it is true.
There is a woman who walked out of a UFO expo and exclaimed "I was skeptical going in, and I'm still skeptical coming out". This sentence is bizarre if taken literally. Why would something at the UFO show cause you to no longer be skeptical? What she probably meant is that "I didn't believe in UFOs when I went in, and I still don't believe in UFOs."
Even if you believe something completely, it is still possible for you to be skeptical about it. Here's how: you have proof that it is true, and therefore you believe it—and if you didn't have proof then you wouldn't believe it.
Skepticism and open-mindedness are belief systems. They are not the actual states of belief themselves. That is, they are systems that you use to decide what beliefs to have. This system should not change just because of some evidence about UFOs, or some other thing unrelated to deciding whether or not skepticism is a good belief system.
It is possible to always be open-minded about everything, and to always be skeptical about everything, and yet still have a list of things you believe are true, a list of things you believe are false, and a third (very important) list of things you are uncertain about. The first list contains everything you have proof of being true, the second list contains everything you have proof of being false, and the third list contains everything that is not on the first two lists.
So far I've been suggesting a simplified belief system in which every statement in your head has an attached quality: true, not true, or don't know. In practice, absolute proofs are not always available. It is impractical to simply behave as if we are completely uncertain of something until we have absolute proof of it. So, for statements in the third category, we usually estimate the "degree of certainty". It's best to estimate a degree of certainty that is equal to the probability of the statement being true. For example, if you believe in 20 statements each to a degree of 95% certainty, then if that degree of certainty is accurate then about 19 of 20 of those statements should turn out to be true.
Skepticism and open-mindedness are not opposites— they are complements. Both are very important, because they are necessary for eliminating incorrect beliefs and allowing for correct beliefs. It's unfortunate that open-mindedness is usually confused with credulousness, and skepticism is usually confused with closed-mindedness.
But you don't have to take my word for it!
"Are you a Doubting Thomas? Are you holed-up, fearful, confused and desperately looking for answers and courage? Hear the Good News! Christ was dead! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!"
OK, the conclusion was several paragraphs ago, but I need to point out that confusion and uncertainty are not the same thing. If I show you a box, you may be uncertain of what is in the box, but that doesn't mean you are confused by it. The only way I could confuse you is by doing some magic trick, like putting a bowling ball in the box, then opening it up and showing you that the box is empty. The reason you are confused is because the statements "the box must have a bowling ball in it" and "the box is empty" are both simultaneously considered to be true by your brain. Therefore, one of those beliefs is incorrect. If you had been sufficiently skeptical, you never would have believed that "the box must have a bowling ball in it", since you didn't have proof that it stayed in the box. This is just one example of how skepticism reduces confusion rather than increases it.