How do I enter a file or directory name containing spaces or special characters in the terminal?

Question

I have a collection of files and directories with strange names, they contain spaces and the special characters \, *, ), ( and ?. All of them cause problems when I try to use them in the command line or scripts, e.g.:

$ cd space dir
bash: cd: space: No such file or directory

$ cat space file
cat: space: No such file or directory
cat: file: No such file or directory

$ cat (
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

$ echo content >\
> ^C

$ ls ?
(  )  *  ?  \

How do I enter file or directory names that contain special characters in the terminal?