In a rising tide of dogmatic and unquestioned belief, it is urgent to assert the virtues of skepticism. Of course not all forms of skepticism are defensible, but I defend a non-dogmatic skepticism that questions first and believes later. For help in this task, consider the two main forms of ancient skepticism: Academic and non-dogmatic or Pyrrhonian skepticism (named after its founder, Pyhrro of Ellis, who lived between the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.E.).
Academic skepticism is dogmatic and claims that knowledge is impossible for human beings to attain. We cannot know anything, and if we could, we would be unable to assert it, and if we could assert it, no one would understand us. Claims to knowledge of the truth are illusions that need to be combated by all available means. The skeptic’s job is to show how all truth claims fail before radical questioning.
The spirit of Pyrrhonism argues that Academic skepticism is too strong. How, asks the non-dogmatic skeptic, can we know that we know nothing? The Pyrrhonian skeptic does not make such a strong assertion. The claim is only that it is very hard to be sure that one has grasped the final truth of any matter, not that it is absolutely impossible. A less prejudicial skeptic seeks the truth with an open mind. The skeptical mind is a thinking mind.
Skeptical thinking is particularly valuable as an antidote to the desire to believe in things for which there is no rational or empirical evidence. The will to believe in such things has grown to the point that the contrary beliefs people hold turn into opposition, aggression and finally violence. Belief in Absolute Truth is a breeding ground of intolerance and bigotry.
Here, an initially skeptical attitude arms an individual with questions, arguments and strategies for detecting and disarming unfounded beliefs masquerading as certain truths. Skeptical questioning reveals the ground of Absolute Truth to be a mine-field of conflicting and irresolvable conundrums. The recommendation of non-dogmatic skepticism is to suspend belief in order to bring about peace of mind. After the suspension, one is no longer torn between unsupportable assertions, but free to explore issues from all points of view.
Outside the arena of conflicting transcendent claims, the skeptic is just like everyone else. However, the first impulse of the skeptic is to doubt, and he or she must be won over to belief by a preponderance of evidence and good arguments. Even then, the conclusions reached are nearly always tentative and revisable in the light of further evidence. The skeptical life brings a serenity of mind that comes from releasing oneself from contentious unprovable views. At the same time, it brings a kind of exhilarating freedom as one feels one’s prejudices and mental insecurities falling away. The skeptic lives in an open-ended connection to the world and other people, continuing to seek the truth without boundless optimism, but also without despair.
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