شک‌گرایی یونانی: روندهای ضدواقع‌گرایانه در اندیشهٔ باستان

The idea that Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato is simplistic and inaccurate. Much of modern and contemporary epistemology owes a debt not so much to Platonism or Aristotelianism as to their antithesis: scepticism. Recent discussions in the history of philosophy have sparked a great deal of interest in the ancient sceptics, but until now they have been misunderstood and the significance of their philosophy not fully appreciated. Contents Abbreviations Acknowledgments Preface I: Toward a New Interpretation of the Sceptics The Negative Side of Scepticism Standard Criticisms of the Sceptics The Positive Side of Scepticism: Mitigated Scepticism Moral and Religious Scepticism Scepticism as Anti-Realism Scepticism and Idealism Contemporary Anti-Realism Historiography and the Sceptics II: Greek Epistemology before the Rise of Scepticism Xenophanes Heracleitus Epicharmus Parmenides Zeno Empedocles Anaxagoras Summary III: The Rise of Scepticism The Sophists Democritus: Atomism, Idealism, and Equanimity Protagoras: Utility and Anti-Realist Truth Metrodorus and Anaxarchus: Idealism and Equanimity Socrates: Mitigated Scepticism The Megarians Monimus and Cynic Indifference The Cyrenaics: External Objects and Other Minds Plato The Rise of Scepticism IV: Early Pyrrhonism The Arguments for Early Pyrrhonism Pyrrhonism as a Practical Philosophy Equanimity and Indifference Appearances Pyrrhonism and Idealism The Consistency of Early Pyrrhonism Toward Later Pyrrhonism V: Scepticism in the Academy The Arguments for Academic Scepticism Academic Arguments, Probability, and Equal Opposition Academic Equanimity Arcesilaus and Natural Belief The Consistency of Arcesilaus' Outlook Arcesilaus and Sextus Carneades and Plausibility Cicero on the Plausible The Consistency of Carneades' Scepticism Carneades, Arcesilaus, and Pyrrho Philo, Metrodorus, and Cicero VI: Later Pyrrhonism The Arguments for Later Pyrrhonism The Problem of the Criterion Practical Affairs The Consistency of Later Pyrrhonism Pyrrhonean Anti-Realism The Standard Interpretations VII: Ancient Scepticism and Modern Epistemology Mental States Contemporary Anti-Realism The Sceptical Perspective Appendix: Flourishing Dates of Ancient Thinkers Bibliography Index Locorum Alcmaeon Aristotle Athenaeus Cicero Democritus Diogenes Laertius Empedocles Epicharmus Epictetus Euripides Eusebius Gellius Gorgias Heracleitus Hippolytus Lactantius Lucretius Marcus Aurelius Metrodorus Nausiphanes Parmenides Pausanias Philo of Alexandria Philostratus Photius Plato Plutarch Sextus Empiricus Simplicius Suidas Tertullian Theophrastus Xenophanes Xenophon Zeno General Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z In Greek Scepticism Leo Groarke presents a more sympathetic and accurate account of Greek scepticism and its relevance to modern and contemporary thought. He begins with an account of the development of scepticism in pre-Socratic times and concludes with a discussion of the relationship of scepticism to modern and contemporary epistemology. Groarke argues that the sceptics posed the problems central to both ancient and modern epistemology, and that in fact scepticism is the ancient analogue of anti-realist trends which are thought to be uniquely modern. He also shows that scepticism is not simply negative, but offers a positive philosophy which mitigates the sceptical critique of knowledge. Greek Scepticism undermines our usual account of the development of modern epistemology. Groarke shows that the separation of the mind and the external world that is generally attributed to Descartes is actually an integral part of ancient scepticism. In discussing the major problems that stem from this distinction, ancient scepticism anticipates thinkers such as Berkeley, Kant, and Hume. Groarke maintains, controversially, that the doubts of the ancient sceptics are deeper and epistemologically more significant than those of the philosophers usually discussed today.