Marie Grissom

Jose Fiallos
LAE 3333
October 7, 2014
Mini Paper 2- The Great Importance of Doubt
As a person of faith, I am often asked how I am able to believe what I do. Dont
you have doubts? they ask. My affirmative answer comes as a surprise to some. Many
people believe that doubt and faith, or certainty, cannot coexist. Yet, I believe they can;
in fact, I believe that doubt is a positive, beneficial thing. Doubt has led to many
scientific discoveries, it creates a healthy caution against extremism, and it can actually
lead to certainty.
Every great discovery comes about as a result of a question; a doubting of what is
and has been believed. Galileos observations led him to doubt the established truth
that the Earth was at the center of the universe. Darwin doubted creationism. In every
great movement we see doubt at the core. Observing great intelligence and humanity in
African slaves, people began to doubt the accepted belief of the time- that Africans were
sub-human. All throughout history we see this established pattern. Someone doubts the
norm, searches for an answer, and gains new knowledge and wisdom.
In addition, doubt serves as a healthy caution against extremism. Too often today
and throughout history we have seen great tragedies occur in the name of faith, or
certainty. Adolf was seemingly certain that Jews were the culprit for Germanys postwar problems. The terrorists responsible for the September eleventh tragedy must have
been certain of the rightness of their actions, as they lost their lives for them. Every

extremist group in history is certain they are doing the good and right thing. Yet as
outsiders, we are able to see the great wrongness of their actions.
Finally, doubt can actually lead to greater certainty. Many people see doubt as
virus of sorts. It grows and grows, unchecked. Yet if doubt leads people to search, it
can lead us to find answers- the true answers. In my own life I have undergone periods of
great doubt. But when my questions are answered, I emerge with greater certainty than
before, having had my beliefs tested. Theres a saying What doesnt kill you makes you
stronger, and this can apply to doubt as well. Doubt can serve as a test as sorts, or as in
science, as an experiment. And when the results come out, we can have certainty than we
did before our doubt.
So we see that doubt, when used as a tool to find truth, can be of great benefit As
humans we have a tendency to become entrenched in our beliefs, to see doubt as a
weakness. Yet by leading us to great discoveries, keeping extremism at bay, and
increasing our certainty, doubt can often be our greatest ally.