(Successor site to CoPhilosophy, 2011-2020)
A collaborative search for wisdom, at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond... "The pluralistic form takes for me a stronger hold on reality than any other philosophy I know of, being essentially a social philosophy, a philosophy of 'co'"-William James
FYI-In case anyone is unsure what 250 words looks like in a comment box, Don's comment here is 276 words. So, something in this ballpark is your minimal target for the weekly essay (which of course can be longer if you have more to say). jpo
Nigel Warburton describes Pyrrho as “the most famous and probably the most extreme sceptic of all time” (Warburton, 15). I am skeptical that Pyrrho was all that he was proclaimed to be, and I think like some historical figures, he was more a myth than a reality. Depicting him as they did cast a negative light on skepticism which is really something that everyone should possess. We are too easily conned by charlatans, politicians, and snake-oil salesmen. A skeptic is not a negative person but someone who questions what they see or hear. If it makes sense after they consider it or on further research, they can decide based on reason. If Pyrrho started to work with a stone mason, who told him to hold the chisel with his hand before striking the stone, Pyrrho might be skeptical and insist that he was going to cover it with his hand before he struck a blow. He would only do at one time and then his skepticism would be gone. While Pyrrho might say that “No one will ever know about the ultimate nature of reality,” he was not dealing with the practically of daily living (19). Even Pyrrho had to deal with the reality that if you do not eat you will ultimately die and if you do eat you will have to go to the bathroom, so those are two realities we all know. The other reality that even Pyrrho could not escape is that we will all die and whatever we have learned will die with us and only what we have said that has been recorded or written down will live beyond us.
If Pyrrho started to work with a stone mason, who told him to hold the chisel with his hand before striking the stone, Pyrrho might be skeptical and insist that he was going to cover it with his hand before he struck a blow. He would only do at one time and then his skepticism would be gone. While Pyrrho might say that “No one will ever know about the ultimate nature of reality,” he was not dealing with the practically of daily living (19). Even Pyrrho had to deal with the reality that if you do not eat you will ultimately die and if you do eat you will have to go to the bathroom, so those are two realities we all know. The other reality that even Pyrrho could not escape is that we will all die and whatever we have learned will die with us and only what we have said that has been recorded or written down will live beyond us.