Group items tagged skeptical - Science - Spirituality in Dialogue

roman philosopher skeptic Sextus Empiricus - Google Search - 0 views

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philosophy roman sextus empiricus skeptic

shared by ken meece on 26 Jan 08 - Cached

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Sextus does allow beliefs, so long as they are not derived by reason, philosophy or speculation; a skeptic may, for example, accept common opinions in the skeptic's society. However, the content of such beliefs is purely conventional or subjective. Thus, on this interpretation, the skeptic may well entertain the belief that God does or does not exist or that virtue is good. But he may not believe that such claims are true by nature.
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profound impact on Michel de Montaigne, David Hume, and Hegel, among many others
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ken meece on 26 Jan 08

Sextus Empiricus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs, that is, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false. This view is known as Pyrrhonian skepticism, as distinguished from Academic skepticism, as practised by Carneades, which, according to Sextus, denies knowledge altogether. Sextus did not deny the possibility of knowledge. He criticizes the Academic skeptic's claim that nothing is knowable as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief: that is, suspending judgment about whether or not anything is knowable.[2] Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of ataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind'). Sextus did not think such a general suspension of judgment to be impractical, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Sextus Empiricus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs, that is, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false. This view is known as Pyrrhonian skepticism, as distinguished from Academic skepticism, as practised by Carneades, which, according to Sextus, denies knowledge altogether. Sextus did not deny the possibility of knowledge. He criticizes the Academic skeptic's claim that nothing is knowable as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief: that is, suspending judgment about whether or not anything is knowable.[2] Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of ataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind'). Sextus did not think such a general suspension of judgment to be impractical, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit.</div>

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UC Davis Philosophy 22 Lecture Notes: The Skeptical Crisis in European Philosophy - 0 views

www-philosophy.ucdavis.edu/...skeptic.htm

philosophy skeptical

shared by ken meece on 28 Jan 08 - Cached

ken meece on 28 Jan 08

Around all matters of religion and theology also, there rages violent controversy. For while the majority declare that gods exist, some deny their existence. . . . And of those who maintain the existence of gods, some believe in the ancestral gods, others in such as are constructed in the Dogmatic systems--as Aristotle asserted that God is incorporeal and "the limit of heaven," the Stoics that he is a breath which permeates even things most foul, Epicurus that he is anthropomorphic, Xenophanes that he is an impassive sphere." (Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Book III, 218

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Around all matters of religion and theology also, there rages violent controversy. For while the majority declare that gods exist, some deny their existence. . . . And of those who maintain the existence of gods, some believe in the ancestral gods, others in such as are constructed in the Dogmatic systems--as Aristotle asserted that God is incorporeal and "the limit of heaven," the Stoics that he is a breath which permeates even things most foul, Epicurus that he is anthropomorphic, Xenophanes that he is an impassive sphere." (Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Book III, 218</div>

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