SKEPTICISM

also spelled Scepticism the philosophical attitude of doubting the knowledge claims set forth in various areas and asking what they are based upon, what they actually establish, and whether they are indubitable or necessarily true. Skeptics have thus challenged the alleged grounds of accepted assumptions in metaphysics, in science, in morals and manners, and especially in religion. Skeptical philosophical attitudes are prominent throughout the course of Western philosophy; as early as the 5th century BC the Eleatic school of thinkers denied that reality could be described in terms of ordinary experience. Evidence of Skeptical thought appears even earlier in non-Western philosophy, in particular in the Upanisads, philosophic texts of the later Vedic period (c. 1000c. 600 BC) in India. Pyrrhon of Elis (c. 360c. 272 BC), credited with founding Greek Skepticism, sought mental peace by avoiding commitment to any particular view; his approach gave rise in the lst century BC to Pyrrhonism, proponents of which sought to achieve epoche (suspension of judgment) by systematically opposing various kinds of knowledge claims. One of its later leaders, Sextus Empiricus (2nd or 3rd century BC), challenged the claims of dogmatic philosophers to know more than what is evident. His goal was the state of ataraxia, wherein a person willing to suspend judgment would be relieved of the frustration of not knowing reality and would live, without dogma, according to appearances, customs, and natural inclination. The Pyrrhonians criticized Academic Skepticism, first developed in Plato's Academy in Greece in the 3rd century BC; the Academics argued that nothing could be known, and that only reasonable or probable standards could be established for knowledge. Academic Skepticism survived into the Middle Ages in Europe and was considered and refuted by St. Augustine, whose conversion to Christianity convinced him that faith could lead to understanding. Among Islamic philosophers also there arose an antirational Skepticism that encouraged the acceptance of religious truths by faith. Modern Skepticism dates from the 16th century, when the accepted Western picture of the world was radically altered by the rediscovery of ancient learning, by newly emerging science, and by voyages of exploration, as well as by the Reformation, which manifested fundamental disagreement among Roman Catholics and Protestants about the bases and criteria of religious knowledge. Prominent among modern Skeptical philosophers is Michel de Montaigne, who in the 17th century opposed science and all other disciplines and encouraged acceptance, instead, of whatever God reveals. His view was refuted in part by Pierre Gassendi, who remained doubtful about knowledge of reality but championed science as useful and informative. Ren Descartes also refuted Montaigne's Skepticism, maintaining that by doubting all beliefs that could possibly be false, a person can discover one genuinely indubitable truth: I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum), and that from that truth one can establish the existence of God and the existence of the external world, which Descartes claimed can be known through mathematical principles. At the end of the 17th century Pierre Bayle employed Skeptical arguments to urge that rational activity be abandoned in favour of pursuit of the conscience. In the 18th century David Hume assembled some of the most important and enduring Skeptical arguments. He claimed that the very basis of modern science, the method of inductionby which regularities observed in the past justify the prediction that they will continueis based on the uniformity of nature, itself an unjustifiable metaphysical assumption. Hume also sought to demonstrate that the notion of causality, the identity of the self, and the existence of an external world lacked any basis. In rebuttal, Immanuel Kant maintained that, in order to have and describe even the simplest experience, certain universal and necessary conditions must prevail. In the 19th century Sren Kierkegaard developed religious Existentialist thought from an irrational Skepticism, asserting that certainty can be found only by making an unjustifiable leap into faith. Nonreligious Existentialist writers, such as Albert Camus in the 20th century, have claimed that rational and scientific examination of the world shows it to be unintelligible and absurd, but that it is necessary for the individual to struggle with that absurdity. In the 20th century other forms of Skepticism have been expressed among Logical Positivist and Linguistic philosophers. also spelled Scepticism the philosophical attitude of doubting knowledge claims set forth in various areas. Skeptics have challenged the adequacy or reliability of these claims by asking what they are based upon or what they actually establish. They have raised the question whether such claims about the world are either indubitable or necessarily true, and they have challenged the alleged grounds of accepted assumptions. Practically everyone is skeptical about some knowledge claims; but the Skeptics have raised doubts about any knowledge beyond the contents of directly felt experience. The original Greek meaning of skeptikos was an inquirer, someone who was unsatisfied and still looking for truth. From ancient times onward Skeptics have developed arguments to undermine the contentions of dogmatic philosophers, scientists, and theologians. The Skeptical arguments and their employment against various forms of dogmatism have played an important role in shaping both the problems and the solutions offered in the course of Western philosophy. As ancient philosophy and science developed, doubts arose about basic accepted views of the world. In ancient times Skeptics challenged the claims of Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, and in the Renaissance those of Scholasticism and Calvinism. After Descartes, Skeptics attacked Cartesianism and other theories justifying the new science. Later, a Skeptical offensive was levelled against Kantianism and then against Hegelianism. Each Skeptical challenge led to new attempts to resolve the difficulties. Skepticism, especially since the Enlightenment, has come to mean disbeliefprimarily religious disbeliefand the Skeptic has often been likened to the village atheist. Additional reading The basic statements and arguments of various forms of Skepticism are given in: (Academic Skepticism)Cicero, Academica and De natura deorum, both with trans. by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library (1956). (Pyrrhonian Skepticism)Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos, with trans. by R.G. Bury, Loeb Classical Library: vol. 12, Against the Logicians and Outlines of Pyrrhonism (193336); vol. 3, Against the Physicists, Against the Ethicists (1936); vol. 4, Against the Professors (195960); and Scepticism, Man and God: Selections from the Major Writings of Sextus Empiricus, ed. by P. Hallie, trans. by S.G. Etheridge (1964). (Renaissance Skepticism)Michel de Montaigne, L'Apologie de Raimond Sebond, in Pierre Villey (ed.), Les Essais de Michel de Montaigne, new ed. (1922). (Skepticism and fideism)Blaise Pascal, Penses, ed. by L. Brunschvicg (1951). (Skepticism in relation to modern philosophy)Pierre Bayle, Dictionnaire historique et critique, esp. the articles Pyrrho and Zeno of Elea, both of which appear in Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selections, trans. and ed. by Richard H. Popkin (1965); David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, ed. by N. Kemp Smith (1947); Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, 2nd ed. (1957), and A Treatise of Human Nature, both ed. by L.A. Selby-Bigge (1958).The standard studies of ancient Skepticism are: Edwyn R. Bevan, Stoics and Sceptics (1959); Victor Brochard, Les Sceptiques grecs (1887); Norman MacColl, The Greek Sceptics from Pyrrho to Sextus (1869); Mary Mills Patrick, The Greek Sceptics (1929); Leon Robin, Pyrrhon et le scepticisme grec (1944); and Eduard Zeller, The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, trans. by O.J. Reichel (1880). A fine modern study of the epistemological problems involved in ancient Skepticism is Charlotte L. Stough, Greek Skepticism (1969). See also Raoul Richter, Der Skeptizismus in der Philosophie (190408); Richard H. Popkin, Skepticism, Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, pp. 449461 (1967), which contains a bibliography on the subject; these examine Skepticism from ancient times to the 19th century. John Owen, The Skeptics of the French Renaissance (1893), is an interesting discussion of Renaissance and 17th-century Skepticism, though not particularly scholarly. Don Cameron Allen, Doubt's Boundless Sea: Skepticism and Faith in the Renaissance (1964); and Richard H. Popkin, The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Descartes, rev. ed. (1968), which contains a lengthy bibliography, are studies of Renaissance Skepticism and its impact on philosophy and religion. Richard H. Popkin, Berkeley and Pyrrhonism, Review of Metaphysics, 5:223246 (195152); David Hume and the Pyrrhonian Controversy, ibid., 6:6581 (195253); David Hume: His Pyrrhonism and His Critique of Pyrrhonism, Philosophical Quarterly, 1:385407 (195051); The High Road to Pyrrhonism, American Philosophical Quarterly, 2:115 (1965); The Skeptical Crisis and the Rise of Modern Philosophy, Review of Metaphysics, 7:132151, 307322, 499510 (195354); The Skeptical Precursors of David Hume, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 16:6171 (195556); and Scepticism in the Enlightenment, in T. Bestermann (ed.), Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 26:13211345 (1963), are specialized studies on aspects of Skepticism in relation to modern philosophy. Arne Naess, Scepticism (1968), is a most interesting attempt to clarify Skepticism in relation to contemporary thought and to defend it as a viable outlook in modern times. Benson Mates, Skeptical Essays (1981), discusses epistemological problems and free will.