The Skeptical Dynamis and Its Pragmatic Possibilities (Synthese Library, 455)

Description

This monograph reevaluates a school of thought concerned with truth and inquiry. It examines the critique which asserts that it's not possible to live this Early Greek philosophy in practice. The investigation also details new discoveries on the reception of Skepticism by Empiricist Doctors, Early Greek Fathers, Medieval Arabic Thinkers, and Renaissance Thinkers. The author takes a careful look at the apraxia argument and how critics used it. He shows how anti-skeptical arguments rose in different stages of the development of the Skepticism. Coverage also details how the skeptics replied and gave more pragmatic coherence to their philosophy, starting with the proto-skeptics and continuing with the works of Sextus Empiricus. Readers will learn how skepticism endured despite the criticisms, becoming a coherent response to dogmatic philosophies such as Stoicism. The investigation also analyzes the two common approaches that philosophers have used to interpret Sextan philosophy. It considers their benefits as well as defects. In the process, the author presents an original way of interpreting Sextan thought, which the author calls the “suburban interpretation”. He then applies this "middle way" to two works: Against the Grammarians and Against the Rhetoricians. Overall, the book provides readers with an insightful look at how this school of thought survived and spread throughout the ages. Preface Acknowledgments Contents Abbreviations Part I: On the Apraxia Argument Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Skepticism as a Nihilistic Thought in Modern Times 1.2 Hume and Apraxia Revisited Chapter 2: Apraxia and the Development of Ancient Skepticisms 2.1 Preliminary Considerations 2.2 Proto-Skepticisms 2.3 The Life of Pyrrho 2.4 Pyrrho´s Messamates 2.5 From Timon to Arcesilaus? Chapter 3: Academics X Stoics 3.1 Arcesilaus Attacks 3.2 Carneades 3.3 Clitomachus Chapter 4: Sextus Empiricus 4.1 The Legacy of Skepticisms up to Sextus 4.2 The Rustic and the Urban Interpretations 4.3 The Urbans and Their Beliefs 4.4 The Rustics and Their Beliefs 4.5 Urbans and Rustics in Diaphonia 4.6 Paving the Suburban Terrain 4.7 Testing H1 4.8 Summarizing 4.9 Testing H2 4.10 A Twillight Zone 4.11 The Second Formulation of Speech Acts and Skepticism 4.12 A Provisional Conclusion Part II: The Skeptic and the Crafts Chapter 5: Sextus Empiricus and the Elements 5.1 An Interlude on Skepticism and Medicine 5.2 The Refutation to the Elements in General 5.3 The Refutation of the Grammatical Notion of Letters as Specific Elements of Words 5.4 Back to the Feasibility Chapter 6: Sextus Against the Rhetoricians 6.1 General Scheme of the Argument of Adv. Rhet. 6.2 Adv. Rhet. Walkthrough (the Search for the Definition of Rhetoric) 6.3 The Refutations to the Available Definitions (Rhetoric Definition as Techne) 6.4 The Refutations to the Definitions of Rhetoric as Science of Discourse and Producer of Persuasion 6.5 Adv. Rhet. 73-113 Chapter 7: Sextus and a Positive Conception of Techne 7.1 Galen Again Chapter 8: Final Remarks: On the Reception of Skeptical Arguments and Their Transmission Appendices Appendix 1: General Introduction to the Stoic Philosophy 1 Early and Middle Stoa 2 Stoicism as a System 3 Stoic Physics 4 Stoic Ethics 5 Stoic Theory of Knowledge 6 Conceptual Table of the Stoic Philosophy Appendix 2: Conceptual Tables of the Skepticism Before Sextus Empiricus Appendix 3: Chronological Table of the Philosophers and Schools Mentioned Appendix 4: The Three Medical Sects and Their Main Heads, According to Pseudo-Galen, Introd.14.683.5-14.684.5 References 1. Primary Sources (Texts and Translations) 2. Papers and Books 3. Dictionaries, Lexica and Grammars