2. Philosophical Skepticism
An introduction

3. Philosophical Skepticism
Defined
From the Greek word “skeptikoi” = seekers, inquirers
A critical attitude which systematically questions the notion that absolute knowledge and certainty are possible.

4. Philosophical Skepticism
Defined
Philosophical Skepticism is NOT ordinary skepticism (doubting a belief because the evidence is weak or lacking).
It is a philosophy that NOTHING can be absolutely known or certainly proved.

5. Philosophical Skepticism
Defined
Is the opposite of
PHILOSOPHICAL DOGMATISM
A philosophy that believes a certain set of positive statements are authoritative, absolutely certain, and true.

6. Philosophical Skepticism
The BIG ideas
Knowledge is never absolute
Morality is never certain
(”Moral Relativism”)
Seeking absolute TRUTH creates a
logical paradox
(”Criterion of truth”)

8. Philosophical Skepticism
The BIG ideas: NO ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is always personal.
Knowledge is always immediate.
Knowledge is always mutable.
Because knowledge comes from sensory experience, it changes from moment to moment, person to person.

10. Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentilesche
Artemisia Gentilesche is one of Europe’s most famous female artists.
She was taught to paint by her father, Orazio Gentilesche
Became a vigorous follower of Caravaggio, deploying high-contrast lighting and sometimes extreme violence
The story comes from the deuterocanonical book of Judith of the Bible, and depicts a famous Biblical assassination.
The sword woman is Judith, a Jewish lady, and the other woman is her maid, Abra.
The victim is Holofernes, an Assyrian General who was about to destroy Judith’s home, the city of Bethulia. Holofernes desired Judith, so she slipped into his tent one night, got him drunk, and then beheaded him.

11. Philosophical Skepticism
The BIG ideas: MORAL RELAVITISM
“Man is the measure of all things.”--Protagoras
Each person is the standard of truth.
We perceive things only as they appear to us.
Our perceptions-- yes, even our MORALS-- shift according to our environment and situation.

12. Philosophical Skepticism
The BIG ideas: Criterion of Truth
Zeno’s arrow is never half-way to its target, never in motion.
Zeno’s Arrow
by René Magritte
Logical paradox: Can God do everything? Can he make a stone so heavy he cannot lift it?

13. Philosophical Skepticism
The BIG ideas: Criterion of Truth
Any criterion used to judge the truth of a claim can be challenged because a further criterion is needed by which to judge the present criterion and so AD INFINITUM!

14. Philosophical Skepticism
So What’s the Point?
Philosophical skepticism was NEVER put forth as a literal guide for practical living.
The goal of life is ATARAXIA (peace of mind)
ATARAXIA is reached by
Holding no strong opinions (no “closed cases”)
Supporting the PROBABILITY of a belief if the evidence supporting it is greatest.
Suspending judgment if the evidence on both sides is equal.

15. Philosophical Skepticism
NIHILISM
The foundations:
All values are baseless
Nothing is knowable; nothing can be communicated
Life itself is meaningless
Not a desperate, sad existence though, despite its conflict with most of our philosophies-- how?
Nihilists struggle with the conflict between WORD and DEED

16. Nihilism FIGHT CLUB Novel by Chuck Palahniuk Screenplay by Jim Uhls
“You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? “
“We are God's unwanted children? So be it!”
Nihilism
“It is only after we have lost everything that we are free to do everything.”
Narrator: What do you do for a living?
Tyler Durden: Why? So you can pretend like you're interested?
FIGHT CLUB
Novel by Chuck Palahniuk
Screenplay by Jim Uhls
“We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact.”
“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. “

17. Nihilism examples . . . Broken Flowers The Big Lebowski
Pink Floyd’s The Wall
Most punk rock
Most gothic rock
Grendel by John Gardner

18. “Fountain” Marcel Duchamp (1917)
“Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" Marcel Duchamp
(1912)

19. Philosophical Skepticism
SOLIPSISM
The foundations
The individual understands all psychological concepts (thinking, willing, perceiving, etc.) by comparison with his or her own mental states, i.e. making generalizations from inner experiences
Nothing exists but oneself-- the individual creates everything else.
Solipsism is an unresolvable question! (You cannot refute it!)

20. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Stranger than Fiction
SOLIPSISM EXAMPLES . . .
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Stranger than Fiction
(screenplay by Zach Helm)
The Truman Show (screenplay by Andrew Niccol)
Grendel by
John Gardner

21. Man Striding, Alberto Giacometti

22. Philosophical Skepticism
EXISTENTIALISM
The foundations:
Rejects Descartes: “I think, therefore I am” for “I am, therefore I am.” Consciousness is not life.
Individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives
Human beings are subjects in an indifferent, objective, often ambiguous, and "absurd" universe
Kirkegaard, Neitzsche, Heiddegger

23. Galaxy
Jackson Pollock

24. Dans Mon Pays, Marc Chagall

25. Existentialism examples . . .
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Doestoevsky
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The book of Job (Old Testament)
Grendel by John Gardner

26. “Duck Amuck” By Chuck Jones