Hello to anyone who sees this!
I'm looking for a word similar to "skepticism", but more positive. (Here, I define skepticism as the belief that we can never have certain knowledge.) Sorry if this format is weird, trying to follow the rules of single word requests:
- Usage: "There was still much ___, but it had to be done."
- Might be unclear, this noun describes a view/feeling, not a person.
- I've searched for synonyms for skepticism, doubt, dubiety, etc. Not on any specific websites, just looking the words up on Google and clicking any results that looked useful.
- I've got some pretty specific needs for this.
- I'd prefer:
- a short word, as in less characters and as many or less syllables as "skepticism"
- a word that means something similar to being willing to question and give up beliefs
- I need:
- an English word specifically, even if it's a lesser-known one
- a noun
- I'd prefer:
- Words I've tried are all too negative, or they switch too easily.
- "Skepticism" - it's a very interesting, but still too strong, view in philosophy.
- "Doubt" - this is mostly used in a negative way, as in "but still, they doubted him".
- "Uncertainty" - this sounds less like questioning your beliefs, more like general confusion.
- "Hesitancy" - this is questioning, but it's seen more as a weakness than a strength.
- "Incertitude" - less a question, more a feeling that you don't actually know something.
- I'm okay with closed compound words, but no hyphens.
Thank you in advance for any help, and if I need to change anything in the question, please let me know. This question is probably unnecessary, and I probably missed something when looking around.