🤓Intro to Epistemology Unit 3 – Skepticism: Ancient Greek to Modern Responses

Key Concepts and Definitions

• Skepticism questions the possibility of knowledge or certainty
• Epistemology studies the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge
• Pyrrhonian skepticism suspends judgment about all beliefs
• Academic skepticism denies the possibility of certain knowledge
• Cartesian skepticism doubts the reliability of sensory experience (evil demon argument)
• Agrippa's trilemma presents three unsatisfactory options for justifying beliefs (infinite regress, circular reasoning, or arbitrary assumption)
• Epistemic justification provides reasons or evidence for a belief
  • Internalism holds that justification depends on factors internal to the believer
  • Externalism holds that justification can depend on external factors beyond the believer's awareness
• Reliabilism is a form of externalism that ties justification to reliable belief-forming processes

Historical Context of Skepticism

• Ancient Greek philosophers (Pyrrho, Arcesilaus, Carneades) developed early forms of skepticism
• Hellenistic period saw the rise of competing philosophical schools (Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism)
• Medieval philosophy grappled with the relationship between faith and reason
• Renaissance thinkers revived interest in ancient skeptical arguments
• Enlightenment philosophers (Descartes, Hume) raised new skeptical challenges
  • Descartes' methodological doubt sought to find a foundation for knowledge
  • Hume questioned the justification of inductive reasoning and causality
• 20th-century philosophers (Moore, Wittgenstein) responded to skeptical arguments
• Contemporary epistemology continues to engage with skeptical issues

Ancient Greek Skepticism

• Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-270 BCE) is considered the founder of skepticism
  • Emphasized suspension of judgment (epoché) and tranquility (ataraxia)
  • Argued that we cannot know the true nature of things beyond appearances
• Academic skepticism developed in Plato's Academy under Arcesilaus and Carneades
  • Arcesilaus (c. 315-240 BCE) criticized Stoic epistemology and argued against the possibility of certain knowledge
  • Carneades (c. 214-129 BCE) introduced the idea of probable reasoning and degrees of justification
• Aenesidemus (1st century BCE) revived Pyrrhonian skepticism and formulated the Ten Modes of skepticism
• Sextus Empiricus (c. 160-210 CE) compiled skeptical arguments in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism
  • Distinguished between appearance and reality
  • Argued that for every argument, there is an equal and opposite argument
• Ancient skeptics challenged dogmatic claims to knowledge in various fields (perception, ethics, metaphysics)

Medieval and Renaissance Skepticism

• Augustine (354-430) grappled with skeptical arguments but ultimately affirmed the possibility of knowledge through divine illumination
• Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) used skeptical arguments to challenge Aristotelian philosophy and argue for the supremacy of divine revelation
• Renaissance thinkers such as Montaigne (1533-1592) and Sanches (1551-1623) revived ancient skeptical themes
  • Montaigne's Essays explored the limits of human knowledge and the diversity of customs and beliefs
  • Sanches' Quod Nihil Scitur ("That Nothing Is Known") argued against the possibility of scientia (certain knowledge)
• Reformation debates about religious authority and interpretation fueled skeptical attitudes
• The rediscovery of ancient texts (Sextus Empiricus) stimulated skeptical thinking
• Skeptical arguments were used to undermine traditional authorities and encourage intellectual humility

Modern Skeptical Arguments

• Descartes' evil demon argument raises the possibility that all our beliefs could be false
  • Even beliefs based on clear and distinct perception might be deceived by an all-powerful deceiver
• Hume's problem of induction questions the justification of inductive inferences
  • No amount of observed regularities can logically guarantee future regularities
  • Inductive reasoning relies on the unjustified assumption of the uniformity of nature
• Hume's skepticism about causation challenges our ability to know necessary connections between events
  • We only observe constant conjunctions, not causal powers or necessary connections
• The problem of the external world questions our knowledge of mind-independent reality
  • The veil of perception (sense-data) seems to screen off direct access to external objects
• Goodman's new riddle of induction illustrates the underdetermination of theory by evidence
  • Mutually incompatible hypotheses ("green" vs. "grue") can fit all past observations equally well
• Quine's indeterminacy of translation thesis suggests there is no fact of the matter about meaning
  • Behavioral evidence alone cannot fix determinate meanings or rule out incompatible translation manuals

Responses to Skepticism

• G.E. Moore's common sense philosophy appeals to the certainty of everyday knowledge claims
  • The skeptic's premises are less plausible than the commonsense beliefs they purport to undermine
• Contextualism holds that knowledge attributions are context-sensitive
  • In ordinary contexts, knowledge claims are true and skeptical scenarios irrelevant
  • In skeptical contexts, knowledge claims are false and skeptical possibilities salient
• Relevant alternatives theory argues that knowledge requires ruling out only relevant, not all logically possible, alternatives
• Externalist theories (reliabilism, tracking theories) allow for knowledge without internalistically accessible justification
  • Reliably formed true beliefs can count as knowledge even if the believer cannot cite supporting reasons
  • Tracking theories (Nozick) require that beliefs be sensitive to the truth (S believes p only if p)
• Disjunctivist theories deny a common element between veridical and non-veridical experiences
  • In the good case, perceivers are directly aware of mind-independent objects, not sense-data
• Pragmatic responses emphasize the impracticality or self-defeating nature of skepticism
  • Skepticism undermines the presuppositions of rational inquiry and action
  • Belief is unavoidable in practice, even if not justified by skeptical standards

Practical Implications

• Skepticism can promote intellectual humility and openness to alternative views
  • Recognizing the fallibility of human reason can temper dogmatism and encourage inquiry
• Suspension of judgment may lead to tranquility and freedom from anxiety
• Skeptical arguments can be used to challenge unjustified authorities or prejudices
• Skepticism about moral realism may support moral anti-realism or non-cognitivism
  • If there are no objective moral facts, moral judgments may be seen as expressions of attitudes rather than truth-apt beliefs
• Skepticism can motivate epistemic reforms or methodological improvements
  • The scientific method can be seen as a way of mitigating skeptical worries through empirical testing and replication
• Radical skepticism may lead to relativism, nihilism, or pessimism about the possibility of knowledge
• Pyrrhonian skepticism as a way of life emphasizes suspending belief, following appearances, and living undogmatically

Current Debates and Future Directions

• Disagreement between neo-Pyrrhonists (Fogelin) and neo-Mooreans (Sosa) on the viability of skepticism
  • Neo-Pyrrhonists see skepticism as a permanent challenge to knowledge claims
  • Neo-Mooreans defend common sense and the possibility of knowledge in the face of skeptical arguments
• Integrating insights from cognitive science and psychology into epistemological theories
  • Studying the actual processes of belief formation and reasoning, not just idealized norms
  • Accounting for implicit biases, heuristics, and motivated reasoning in theories of justification
• Virtue epistemology focuses on intellectual character traits rather than individual beliefs
  • Intellectual virtues (open-mindedness, curiosity, intellectual humility) as conducive to knowledge
  • Intellectual vices (dogmatism, closed-mindedness, wishful thinking) as obstacles to knowledge
• Social epistemology examines the social dimensions of knowledge production and transmission
  • Investigating the effects of social position, power relations, and institutions on knowledge claims
  • Studying the epistemology of testimony, disagreement, and expertise
• Feminist epistemology challenges traditional conceptions of objectivity and impartiality
  • Arguing for the situatedness of knowers and the role of social identity in shaping epistemic perspectives
  • Developing alternative epistemologies (standpoint theory, epistemologies of resistance)
• Applying skeptical arguments to new domains (self-knowledge, memory, perception, a priori reasoning)
• Skeptical theism questions the inference from apparent evil to the non-existence of God
• Moral skepticism challenges the existence of objective moral facts or the possibility of moral knowledge