Skepticism:
Harvard University
It has been said that
Eric Lindblom
is the skeptic's skeptic.
***
Skeptic
credit: stenuddcom
Apparently, the skeptic school arose as a reaction to Aristotle. Being skeptical to the wisdom of Aristotle I would support thereby making me a confirmed skeptic.
In particular, the four causes or responsibilities are problematique although not necessarily untrue especially since, apparently, Western Thought is based on Aristotle's Physics:
Material makes a constituent, present in a given thing making it come to exist
Formal makes form is the account of the essence of a given thing and is the parts.
Efficient makes the source of the primary principle of either change, stability or both
Final makes a given thing’s end (telos) for what a given thing is intended
The above is hardly resolved. Thereby, the skeptics discussion begins with Pyrrho of Elis and proceeds.
Lindblom
Physics II.3, 194b24 ff: For a translation of Aristotle see:
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/4CAUSES.HTM
Skeptic
By what definition?
credit: webspace.ship.edu
Pyrrho of Elis
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pyrrho/
Skeptic
By what definition?
Association for Skeptical Investigation
"The only skepticism this group promotes is skepticism of critics and criticisms of paranormal studies.
Members of the group include: Larry Dossey, M.D., Brian Josephson, Ph.D., Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., Ed May, Ph.D., Adrian Parker, Ph.D., Dean Radin, Ph.D., Gary Schwartz, Ph.D., and Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D.
http://skepdic.com/refuge/sheldrake.html
photocredit: asdreams
Skeptic
"Of these, in my opinion, only Krippner is fair-minded when it comes to accepting criticism."
©copyright 2005, Robert Todd Carroll
http://skepdic.com/refuge/sheldrake.html
"The Skeptical Investigations website is organized by the Association for Skeptical Investigation, the purpose of which is to promote genuine skepticism, the spirit of enquiry and doubt, within science. This includes an open-minded investigation of unexplained phenomena, a questioning of dogmatic assumptions, and a skeptical examination of the claims of self-proclaimed skeptics."
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/aboutsi/
Skeptic
By what definition?
Pyrrhoclasticism
"All action is the result of preference, and preference is the belief that one thing is better than another. If I go to the north, it is because, for one reason or another, I believe that it is better than going to the south. Suppress this belief, learn that the one is not in reality better than the other, but only appears so, and one would go in no direction at all.
Complete suppression of opinion would mean complete suppression of action, and it was at this that Pyrrho aimed. To have no opinions was the skeptical maxim, because in practice it meant apathy, total quietism."
http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/pyrrho.htm
"The proper course of the sage, said Pyrrho, is to ask himself three questions.
Firstly we must ask what things are and how they are constituted.
Secondly, we ask how we are related to these things.
Thirdly, we ask what ought to be our attitude towards them.
Pyrrho's answer was that things are indistinguishable, unmeasurable and undecidable and no more this than that, or both this and that and neither this nor that. Therefore, he concluded, our senses neither tell us truths nor lie.[2] We can know nothing of the inner substance of things, only how things appear to us."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrho
Skeptic
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