#Pyrrhonism - Writing Exchange

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Bryan Kam @bryankam

Words as "servants." In Diogenes Laertius, an important source for Greek #philosophy, on #Pyrrhonism:

> So they were merely using the words as servants, as it was not possible not to refute one statement by using another; just as we are accustomed to say there is no such thing as space, and yet we have no alternative but to speak of space for the purpose of argument, though not of positive doctrine, and just as e say nothing comes about by necessity and yet have to speak of necessity.

Bryan Kam @bryankam

In Hellenistic Greek #philosophy, there were two types of #scepticism. #Pyrrhonism, starting with Pyrrho of Elis (360–270 BC) and Academic Scepticism. The former aims at "suspending judgement" on all non-evident matters to reach a state of "unperturbedness." This involves a rejection of all dogma.

The latter, which started shortly after Pyrrho's death, took Pyrrho's sceptical arguments against positive dogmatic positions, and used them to conclude (dogmatically) that nothing can be known.

Bryan Kam @bryankam

I recorded a #podcast out in the Woods for the first time. Took a bit of doing to get the volume right but I'm reasonably happy with the output.

In this episode, I speak in the Wood about what I'm interested in why. This includes #Pyrrhonism, #Buddhism, #Spinoza, #Schopenhauer, #Nietzsche, #Hume, #Peirce, #Kuhn, #Jaynes, #McGilchrist, and more.

https://pod.fo/e/165031

podfollowClerestory (Bryan Kam): InterIntellect Fellowship and What I'm ReadingI was awarded an InterIntellect fellowship! See the announcement here.In this episode, I speak in the Wood about what I'm interested in and why. This includes Pyrrhonism, Buddhism, Spinoza, Schopen...

Bryan Kam @bryankam

#Buddhism like #Pyrrhonism opposes having views

Readwise highlight from Leigh Brasingon's Dependent Origination and Emptiness:

The idea is that Right View is not locking in to any sort of viewpoint and defending it. In particular, the Buddha says, don't take a stand about “my self.” Remember, the “self” is essentially the soul, the essence of me that's going to be eternally happy – some day. The Buddha says, don't take a stand about that. He's not saying there is a self; he's not saying there isn't a self. We had the story of Vacchagotta in the previous chapter asking, “Does the Self exist?” or “Does the Self not exist?” The Buddha would not give him a categorical answer, in fact he did not give an answer at all.

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Truth and Emptiness with Jake Orthwein: in which we discuss different conceptions of #truth, different types of #Buddhism, #emptiness versus #Pyrrhonism, whether the #Buddha or #Nietzsche are nihilists, and much more on #philosophy!
https://anchor.fm/bkam/episodes/Truth-and-Emptiness-with-Jake-Orthwein-e1u7frn

AnchorTruth and Emptiness with Jake Orthwein by Clerestory (Bryan Kam)I loved having this conversation with Jake. In it, we discuss Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, Pyrrhonism, pragmatism, and different theories of truth. Stay tuned for more! Read Jake's thread on Darwin's new type of scientific theory. Follow @JakeOrthwein or @bryankam on Twitter, or follow me on Mastodon: @bryankam@writing.exchange. Clerestory by Bryan Kam • Infrequent updates at Substack • All my work plus exclusive content at Patreon

Kenny Pearce @klp@zirk.us

Someone who's good at these things (not me) should really make a #Pyrrhonism self-help commercial:

"Life got you down? Things not going your way? Pyrrhonism can help! Our simple techniques can wipe away ANY belief, and what you don't believe can't trouble you!

Try Pyrrhonism for:
* Debt
* Illness
* Death
* Disagreeable colleagues
* Dead-end jobs
* Family conflict
* Household chores

If you believe in money after 30 days, your money back! (We don't believe you paid us anyway.)"

Bryan Kam @bryankam

#Pyrrhonism opposes having opinions which apply antilogies or dichotomies to non-evident affairs/matters/things. Suspending judgment (#epoché) then leads to not being disturbed (#ataraxia). It is *not* a #philosophy of metaphysical argumentation; it is an ethical and pragmatic stance.

Readwise comment from Beckwith's Greek Buddha (2015):

Pyrrho never, in this or any other testimony, talks about physical or metaphysical issues (though he is said to have criticized other philosophers who did talk about them), and in two testimonies—the Aristocles passage and the narrative about the dog—he explicitly mentions pragmata and makes it very clear that he uses the word to refer to conflicting ethical “matters, affairs”. In short, for Pyrrho, pragmata are always and only ethical ‘topics, questions, matters, affairs’ which people dispute or try to interpret with antilogies—opposed choices such as Good : Bad, or True : False.

Continued thread

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Stanford Encyclopedia of #Philosophy on #SextusEmpiricus ... #Pyrrhonism is all about finding such oppositions
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sextus-empiricus/
@philosophy

Sextus tells us that the distinctively Skeptical ability is the one which enables its possessor to set out oppositions of such a sort that suspension of judgment ensues (tranquillity, we learn later, will follow ‘fortuitously’—see 3.3 below. The sort of opposition which will achieve this is one where ‘none of the conflicting accounts takes precedence over any other as being more convincing’ (I 10) (this is the elucidation of ‘equipollent’). So, a Skeptic is someone who has the ability to find, for any given argument in favour of a proposition P, a conflicting argument (i.e., one whose conclusion is a proposition which cannot be true together with P—call it P) which is equally convincing*.

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Finished Beckwith's Greek Buddha today and it was phenomenal. I learned so much about #Pyrrhonism and the history of #Buddhism that I don't actually care if he's right or wrong

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Reminder that we can live a good life without any opinions whatsoever

Readwise highlight from Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Scepticism (~200 CE?)

Thus, attending to what is apparent, we live in accordance with everyday observances, without holding opinions — for we are not able to be utterly inactive. These everyday observances seem to be fourfold, and to consist in guidance by nature, necessitation by feelings, handing down of laws and customs, and teaching of kinds of expertise. By nature’s guidance we are naturally capable of perceiving and thinking. By the necessitation of feelings, hunger conducts us to food and thirst to drink. By the handing down of customs and laws, we accept, from an everyday point of view, that piety is good and impiety bad. By teaching of kinds of expertise we are not inactive in those which we accept. And we say all this without holding any opinions.

#philosophy #skepticism #SextusEmpiricus

Bryan Kam @bryankam

I did a little talk on Beckwith's Greek Buddha, which meandered into my interest in #Pyrrhonism, #scepticism, #philosophy, #Buddhism. https://www.patreon.com/posts/pyrrhonism-76519385?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Bryan Kam @bryankam

I'm coming to think #Pyrrhonism is a really misunderstood and underrated #philosophy https://pyrrhonism.medium.com/pyrrhonism-in-a-nutshell-93477417b5c2?s=09 @philosophy

Quote from "Pyrrhonism in a Nutshell" by Douglas C. Bates

Over the span of recorded history, various dogmatic approaches for attaining wisdom have been proposed. While several of these have gained many adherents, there remains vast disagreement among the various adherents about what dogmas lead to wisdom. On this basis, we can conclude that the dogmatists have failed to provide mankind with a method for attaining wisdom. Dogma itself appears to be the impediment to wisdom.

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Today's #ReadingLog update, I'm starting to put brief commentary, let's see how long I can keep this up. Mainly reading today about #Pyrrhonism and #truth https://clerestory.netlify.app/reading/

clerestory.netlify.appReading LogThis is a log of articles and books I’m reading, podcasts I’m listening to, conversations I’m having, and movies I’ve seen in reverse chronological order. But I…

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Is anyone aware of earlier FAQ-style documents? #SextusEmpiricus, Outlines of Scepticism, ~190 AD. This is a phenomenal book btw.

#philosophy #pyrrhonism @philosophy

Outlines of Scepticism These are the Contents of the First Book of the Outlines of Scepticism: i The most fundamental difference among philosophies it The accounts constitutive of Scepticism iii Its nomenclature iv What is the concept of Scepticism? v The Sceptic vi Its principles vii Do Sceptics hold beliefs? viii Do they belong to a school? ix Do they study natural science? x Do they reject what is apparent? xi The standard of Scepticism xii Its aim xiii ~ The general modes of Scepticism xiv. The Ten Modes xv The Five Modes xvi The Two Modes xvii ~ What are the modes which overthrow those who offer causal explanations? xviii The Sceptical phrases xix The phrase ‘No more’ xx Non-assertion xxi ‘Perhaps’, ‘Maybe’ and ‘Possibly’ xxii ‘I suspend judgement’ xxiii I determine nothing’ xxiv ‘Everything is undetermined’ xxv ‘Everything is inapprehensible’ xxvi ‘Thave no apprehension’ and ‘I do not apprehend xxvii - ‘Opposed to every account there is an equal account’ xxviii Rules for the Sceptical Phrases xxix Is Scepticism a path to the philosophy of Heraclitus? xx Does the school of Democritus differ from Scepticism? xai Does Cyrenaicism differ from Scepticism? xaxii - Does Protagoreanism differ from Scepticism? xaiii Does Scepticism differ from the Academies? xaxiv Is Medical Empiricism the same as Scepticism?

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Great article on #Pyrrhonism and #skepticism. I may have been a Pyrrhonist all along. Basically it's a technique for not having opinions that upset you, by continuing investigation to the point of humility/shrug https://pyrrhonism.medium.com/an-epitome-of-pyrrhonism-81d37daef713 #philosophy @philosophy

The Main Therapeutic Ingredient of Pyrrhonism

People who believe that something is by nature (i.e., objectively, in reality) good or bad find themselves repeatedly upset. They are upset when they fail to possess things they think are good. They feel tormented when subjected to things they think are bad. When they succeed in getting what they think is good they are prone to immoderate exultation. They are tormented by fears of change, of losing what they think is good and of being subjected to what they think is bad. (OP 1.27)

For the person who is in distress due to their avoidance of evil or pursuit of good, it will only be possible them to escape that distress by making it evident to them that there does not exist anything which is either good or evil by nature, ‘but these things are judged by mind on the part of humans,’ as Timon says. Among the ancient Greek philosophies of life, this teaching is unique to Pyrrhonism; and it therefore is Pyrrhonism’s achievement to secure eudaimonia. (AE 140)

Replied in thread

Bryan Kam @bryankam

@MathiasG @philosophy So I started this and it is brilliant. Are there FAQs that are older than this? Is this a common format?

I think I may have been a Pyrrhonist all along

#SextusEmpiricus #Pyrrhonism

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Has anyone read Sextus Empiricus and have advice about how/where to start? The Stanford Encyclopedia has got me very excited. I've read Diogenes Laertius on Pyrrho already #pyrrhonism #philosophy @philosophy

Bryan Kam @bryankam

Philosophical skepticism

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