Originally written in French. Translated by AI — the meaning has been preserved, not the prose.
Short definition
A working disposition that consists of actively looking for what could take your own conviction apart, rather than gathering what supports it.
Usage in the field
Used to describe the stance of a prior-art search conducted on your own method, and more broadly any verification you run on work you produced yourself.
Synonyms and variants
"culture of doubt", "methodical doubt". The adjective scientific marks here the orientation towards the counter-example, not membership of a research institution.
Not to be confused with
- scepticism — a general refusal to grant assent. It bears on everything and directs no search; the culture of doubt bears on a named hypothesis and says where to look.
- Judgment — the capacity to recognize what matters and to decide. Doubt prepares judgment by testing what it will bear on; it does not replace it.
- peer review — appraisal of a piece of work by qualified third parties. It is external and comes afterwards; the culture of doubt is internal and concurrent.
- critical thinking — the ability to evaluate a claim you receive. It is exercised on what others say; this one is exercised first on what you assert yourself.
Examples
Faced with an almost finished book, replacing "let's proofread and publish" with "what, in what I present as new, already exists elsewhere under another name?" — and accepting that every answer shrinks the claimed territory.
Ambiguities / debates
The word doubt evokes hesitation and paralysis, whereas the practice described here is active and produces decisions: it narrows a claim until it holds. That is the reason for this entry.