Ancient Philosophy · Part 21 · The Hellenistic schools · B2–C1
The Sceptics: Why Not to Be Sure
Part 21 of Ancient Philosophy: some Greek philosophers decided that the wisest thing was not to decide. For every argument there is an equal argument against, they said; so suspend judgment, and you will find peace of mind. Hedging (it seems, perhaps, it appears, it is possible that, I’m not sure whether), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight, the philosophers who doubted everything: the Sceptics.
Good question. They doubted that too, which is why they did not say “nothing can be known”. They said: “I suspend judgment.”
One of them is writing in our own city now. I have read him, and he troubles me.
Then you will enjoy tonight, Philo, or perhaps not. I am not sure.
Greece, Rome and Alexandria, about 340 BCE – 1st century CE
Pyrrho of Elis (about 360–270 BCE) travelled with Alexander’s army to India, and is said to have come back convinced that we cannot know the true nature of things. He wrote nothing; his pupil Timon wrote satirical poems, of which fragments survive.
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