One Quarter of Americans Are Philosophical Skeptics
- Carneades.org
- Aug 2
- 7 min read
According to a recent study by Carneades.org, between 20% and 25% of Americans support varying forms of philosophical skepticism. When asked to select all sources that can provide certain knowledge, (experts, senses, logic, or nothing can be known), 23% of Americans selected only "There is nothing that we can know for certain." The remainder are split almost evenly between those that can be roughly classified as empiricists 39% (those who don't think logic and reason can provide knowledge) and rationalists 38% (those who think that logic and reason can provide knowledge outside of sense experience).
There could be a great deal of debate as to whether the categories of rationalist and empiricist exactly map onto these views, but the correspondence with skepticism seems to be fairly clear.
The next question provided respondents with a options roughly corresponding to internalism (my beliefs are justified by other internal beliefs), externalism (my beliefs are justified by trust in your mental faculties), or skepticism (I don't know my beliefs are justified). Once again you might debate whether the first two map perfectly onto all versions of externalism and internalism, but these results should give a general sense which direction respondents lean on this spectrum, and should map clearly onto skepticism about justification.
On this question, 20.3% of Americans claimed that they did not know that their beliefs were justified, while 35.9% relied on internalist justifications and 43.8% relied on an externalist justification for their beliefs. The share of justification skeptics matches the share of skeptics from the question above quite closely.
This also corresponds to the share of Americans who think they might be in a skeptical scenario right now. When asked if they could be dreaming, 19% either agreed or strongly agreed. When asked if it was possible they they were in the Matrix, 25% agreed or strongly agreed. This once again corresponds to the idea that between one fifth and one quarter of Americans either are skeptics or at least harbor some skeptical viewpoints.
These are not exactly the same people responding skeptically across all of these questions. Around half (53.6%) of all Americans expressed support for at least one of these skeptical viewpoints, but a quarter (24.8%) were more consistent supporting two or more of the four skeptical claims above. Given that the two statements "There is nothing that we can know for certain." and "I don't know my beliefs are justified." are the most clearly linked to different types of skepticism, we will focus on these for the rest of this report (you might think it is possible you are in a skeptical scenario, but not think that precludes knowledge).
Philosophical Skepticism
Philosophical skepticism is the position that doubts the possibility of knowledge. Sometimes philosophical skeptics are divided into academic skeptics who assert the claim that knowledge is impossible and Pyrrhonian skeptics who lack beliefs because those beliefs cannot be justified. Here's an introduction to philosophical skepticism:
If you are not a skeptic, there are several places you might think that our knowledge comes from. You might think that we get it from experience, or you might think that we get it from something beyond our experience, like our rationality or logic. If you think we can only get knowledge from experience, you could be classified as an Empiricist. If you think there are some ways beyond experience that we can gain knowledge, you could be called a rationalist. For more on this famous distinction, check out this video below:
Religious "Nones" more likely to be Skeptics.
Women and Boomers less likely to claim certainty; Men, Millennials, and Gen Z more likely to believe in skeptical scenarios
Looking at demographic variables, age, gender and religion are the most predictive of philosophical skepticism. Using a Linear Probability Regression on the statement "There is nothing that we can know for certain," Religious "Nones" (Atheists, Agnostics, and Nothing in Particular) were 11.7%*** more likely to be skeptics than those with religion. Women were 5.1%* more likely to be skeptics than men and Boomers were 8.0%** more likely to be skeptics than other generations. When looking at the claim "I don't know that my beliefs are justified" the key demographic group that matters is religion, with people expressing no religion being 17.4%*** more likely to be philosophical skeptics. Age and gender pointed in the same directions as above, but were not statistically significant for this statement.
Interestingly, the demographics on the skeptical scenarios cut the opposite way for both gender and age. Men were 10.9%*** more likely to think they could be in the Matrix and 9.4%*** more likely to think they could be dreaming. Similarly young people (Millennials and Gen Z) were 29.0%*** more likely to think they could be in the Matrix and 21%*** more likely to think that they could be dreaming. Not being religious continues to be associated with belief in both the possibility you are in the Matrix (6.8%**) but not the possibility you are dreaming (no significant relationship).
Aesthetics and Views on the Afterlife Associated with Skepticism
Views on the afterlife are strongly correlated with skepticism. Non-moral exclusivists (those who think the only thing you need to do to get into the good afterlife is to be the correct religion) are 16.0%*** less likely to support the claim that none of their beliefs are justified, while those who believe in reincarnation (by 14.5%***) and those who do not believe in an afterlife (by 11.2%***) are more likely to think that none of their beliefs are justified. A similar pattern can be seen with the statement "There is nothing that we can know for certain." As non-moral exclusivists are 13.8%*** less likely, while reincarnationists (6.5%*) and afterlife skeptics (7.6%**) are more likely to think that there is nothing we can know for certain.
Views on the goal of art are also closely associated with skepticism. Aesthetic Pluralism (the claim that art may have different goals) is associated with an 11.1%*** increase in the chances of thinking we can know nothing for certain. Aesthetic Functionalists (those who think art should serve a practical purpose) are 9.3%*** less likely to think knowledge is impossible and Aesthetic Realists (those who think art should represent reality) are 12.6% less likely to think knowledge is impossible. The same pattern can be seen with those who think that their beliefs are not justified. Pluralists are more likely to be skeptical (by 17.2%***) while realists, functionalists, and aestheticists are 8.0%*, 16.0%***, and 9.2%** less likely to be skeptical respectively. For more on these positions, check out this earlier report on American's views of art.
Other philosophical positions related to skepticism include denying communitarian nationalism, robust patriotism, and ethnonationalism. Rejecting both scientific realism and the claim that religion overrides the claims of science are both associated with being a skeptic as well. The analysis below shows the top predictors of each type of skepticism we included here based on a dominance analysis.
Methodology Specifics
Before leaving, here are the specifics of how the question we have been focusing on was asked. This study was conducted in March of 2026 on a representative sample of Americans. For more on the overall methodology of this survey consult this blog post. As we publish more blogs on this survey the information on the questions for the other philosophical positions will come out. The analysis in this blog was based on the responses to two multiple choice questions and two Likert statements:
What, if anything, do you think we can know for certain (select all that apply)?
What we are told by experts
What we observe with our eyes and senses
Truths of math and logic
There is nothing that we can know for certain.
Anyone that selected 3 is considered a Rationalist, anyone that selected only 4 is considered a skeptic. Others are considered Empiricists.
What statement best describes your view about how you know your beliefs are justified?
I know my beliefs are justified because I have other beliefs that support them.
I know my beliefs are justified because I trust my mental faculties.
I don't know that my beliefs are justified.
Choosing 1 is considered internalism, 2 is considered externalism, and 3 is considered skepticism.
Indicate if you agree or disagree with the following statements (5 part Likert scale: Strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree)
It is possible that I am dreaming right now
It is possible that we are all in the Matrix right now
Data like these are a public good that can help us all understand how normal people view important philosophical questions. Our goal is to put out more surveys like this in the future, but we need your help! Have you ever wanted to ask a philosophical question to a representative sample of Americans? Have you ever been curious about how normal people see questions that are important to philosophers? You now have the chance to get your question on our next nationally representative survey! We need around $2,500 to conduct another survey, hopefully in the next few months. Visit our Patreon page to find out more. Here's how you can help:
Raw Data $10: If you want access to the raw data from the survey we just finished, it is available! You can use it to run and publish whatever analyses you want, just 1) don't publish the raw data yourself and 2) make sure to give credit to Carneades.org. We'll even throw in the data from our pre-survey of 100 people.
Likert Statement $30: Want to see how much Americans agree or disagree with a certain statement? For just $30, you can add a statement to our Likert question, where participants will respond to it with Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree. The statement must be about philosophy, less than 150 characters, and safe for work. We'll include the raw data from the next survey.
Multiple Choice Question $150: Want to design and ask your own multiple choice question? You can have up to 1000 characters in the question and up to 500 characters in each of the answers. Only up to 10 answers are allowed. The question must be about philosophy and safe for work. We'll include the raw data from the next survey. We will even throw in a Likert statement (as described above) and the raw data from the next survey for free!
We reserve the right to edit any statement for grammar, spelling, or to clarify any philosophical ideas for the respondents. We also reserve the right to reject any statements, but will give a full refund for any that are rejected.
Notes:
Dominance analysis is run with all of the views in the study converted to binary or Likert scales. All likelihood estimates are created using a linear probability model with both dependent and independent variable treated as binaries.
*Significant at the p < 0.1 level
**Significant at the p < 0.05 level
*** Significant at the p < 0.01 level
How to cite this report:
Carneades (2026). One Quarter of Americans Are Philosophical Skeptics. Experimental Philosophy. https://www.carneades.org/post/one-quarter-of-americans-are-philosophical-skeptics
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