Skepticism

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Definition [?]
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

Skepticism is a philosophical point of view, and a skeptic is one who embraces skepticism. In Ancient Greek philosophy, there were two very different schools of skepticism: the Academic and the Pyrrhonian.[1]

  • Academic: Named after Plato's Academy, it is the philosophy that nothing can be known for certain.
  • Pyrrhonian: Named after the Greek, Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-275 B.C), it is the point of view of suspended judgement. The Greek, Aenesidemus (c. 100-40 B.C.), formulated it into a philosophy and adopted the title of "skeptic" (from skeptikos, meaning "inquirer") and "doubters"; (from ephektikos, meaning "one who suspends judgment").[1]

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Smith name, George H.. "A Note on the History and Meaning of Skepticism", Resources for Independent Thinking, http://www.rit.org/essays/history.php.