Final answer:
Enlightenment thought reduced skeptics to doubters without sufficient grounds to challenge the dominant views of rationalism and empiricism that emphasized knowledge through reason and experience. Skepticism, however, continued to pose substantial challenges to the era’s confidence in human reason.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the Enlightenment, skeptics were often seen as having been reduced to the position of doubters who lacked sufficient grounds to challenge the dominant rationalist and empiricist views which emphasized knowledge gained through reason and experience. Skepticism, as a school of thought, raises doubts about the possibility of obtaining certain knowledge, questioning everything from moral values to the existence of God. Philosophers like David Hume highlighted the problems in logically deriving normative claims from descriptive ones, creating room for skepticism about moral knowledge.
The Enlightenment era was characterized by a shift towards rationalism, the belief in reason as a primary source of knowledge, and empiricism, the idea that knowledge comes from sensory experience. This period downplayed the role of authoritative sources such as the Church and scripture in the acquisition of knowledge, instead favoring the use of reason and observation. However, amidst this dominance of human reason, skepticism persisted, underscoring doubts about our ability to know anything with certainty and thus challenging Enlightenment confidence in the power of reason.