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Concept and praxis: skepticism and art

No. 68

On the topic of skeptical ethics: reflections from skeptical rationality

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12795/themata.2023.i68.05
Submitted
March 27, 2023
Published
2023-12-30

Abstract

As we know, moral philosophy is also known as practical philosophy, so it refers to how to act in the face of life's challenges. However, skepticism doubts the possibility of having valid knowledge and has often been accused of apraxia by its most ardent enemies (mainly Stoics and Neoplatonists). Thus, if the accusations of the rivals were true, skepticism could not propose any practical philosophy, so the expression "skeptical ethics" could be considered a contradictio in terminis. Nothing is further from the truth. Sextus Empiricus has a text in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism in which he proposes four different criteria for the skeptic to act in life without risk of being accused of contradictory. In these pages we propose, without fear or hesitation, to analyze both the challenges of posing the possibility of a skeptical ethics, as well as to contrast this with the moral skepticism which would be a philosophical proposal of another kind. Finally, we will try to show that the basic outline of a skeptical ethics that would work as a skeptical criterion of action is not so remote or so outlandish.

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