What Does Skepticism Mean
We explain what skepticism is in its common and philosophical use. In addition, its main representatives and characteristics.
What is skepticism?
When we speak of skepticism, we generally mean an attitude of doubt towards what others proclaim as facts . In other words, the tendency not to believe right off the bat in the opinions, beliefs or statements of third parties, unless they are supported by the necessary evidence. Thus, a skeptical person is the complete opposite of a credulous person.
However, in classical philosophy skepticism was also called a current of thought that flourished in Greek antiquity , and that was based on doubt, that is, that denied the possibility that human beings can come to know the truth of something.
Its main representative was the philosopher Pyrrho (c. 360-c. 270 BC), who said that “he did not affirm anything, he only expressed his opinion”, since that was the spirit of the skeptics: an indifferent position before the world.
The term "skeptic", thus, comes from the Greek word skeptikós , derived from the Greek verb skeptesthai ("to look" or "to observe"). The skeptical philosophers, thus, called themselves skeptikoi , "those who examine" or "those who investigate", since they were dissatisfied with the reasons presented regarding the possibility of human knowledge .
These philosophers challenged the great teachers such as Plato, Aristotle or the Stoics, opposing any form of dogmatic thought.
It is said that the disbelief of the skeptics reached such levels that nothing was true or false, neither bad or good, nor heretical or sacred. Thus they put into practice the epojé or suspension of the judgment, and could achieve ataraxia or peace of mind. The precepts of skepticism can be expressed as follows:
- Human knowledge is impossible , and nothing can be affirmed of anything.
- Everything that we know through the senses is unreal.
- The reality cannot adjust to the concepts that we handle mentally.
- The things we know come to us by chance, or by habit .
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Characteristics of skepticism
In summary, skepticism was characterized by the following:
- He doubted in advance any statement or fact, of which incontrovertible evidence is not presented. In this way, to doubt any possible affirmation or assertion until reaching the suspension of the trial and indifference to the world.
- It encompassed different philosophical positions and positions, depending on each skeptical thinker. It reached its most productive posture centuries later, during the European Renaissance .
- Skeptics were unpopular in Ancient Greece , having a reputation as "disruptors" of popular rites, legends, and myths . What they never questioned was the Socratic system of hypotheses and deductions .
- Skepticism disappeared after the fall of the Greco-Roman civilization, but reappeared centuries later during the Renaissance , when it became a tool against medieval Christian dogmatism , fundamental for the emergence of scientific thought .
Representatives of skepticism
Among the main representatives of skepticism are:
- Pyrrho (c. 360- c. 270 BC). Father of skepticism, it is said that he was a great traveler who met distant cultures with the army of Alexander the Great. All that background allowed him to question many of the traditional truths of his people.
- Timon the Silographer (c. 320-230 BC). Greek philosopher and satirical poet, he was a disciple of Pyrrho and Stilpon of Megara, and almost everything we know about him comes from the work of Diogenes Laercio. It is said that he was extremely eloquent, but poor.
- Sixth Empirical (c. 160-210). Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin, to whom we owe most of the precepts of Pyrrhian skepticism, in his work Pyrrhonic Sketches .
- Lucian of Samósata (125-181). Roman writer of Syrian origin who used the Greek language, belonging to the so-called Second Sophistics. Together with Sexto Empírico they were the last skeptics of antiquity .
Skepticism and dogmatism
Dogmatism is the current of thought contrary to skepticism, since it consists of an attitude that does not accept questions, nor does it offer evidence regarding what it accepts or defends, but rather demands its full and total acceptance. In fact, the philosophical current of dogmatism defended the capacity of human reason to know the truth .
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