Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Post #3: Aristotle

Ancient skepticism was first seen in the works of Plato and Aristotle, but for the sake of length, we will just be talking about Aristotle. Aristotle was born near Macedonia, to Nichomasus, who later died while Aristotle was still a young child. Near the age of 18, he made his way to Athens, where he found and joined Plato’s Academy, and remained there until the age of 38. While he was there, he wrote on many topics, and became one of the key players in western philosophy. After he left the Academy, Aristotle kept the views of Plato, up until Platos death. After Plato died, Aristotle shifted his views to more of his own.


 Aristotle’s form of skepticism is much more tame then Pyrrho’s, which was that we couldn’t know anything for certain at all. Nothing. What Aristotle believed was that we should question things, but not to the extent of Pyrrho. Aristotle believed that there were certain things that didn’t need to be questioned, and that they just had an answer. One of the more interesting teachings of this form of skepticism is that in order to understand something, you must first doubt it, you have to understand why it can, and cannot work. Only then will you fully grasp the concept of what you are studying. Aristotle sought to counter certain Protagorean claims using his brand of skepticism, such as the belief that all seemings and appearances are true. If this were true, Aristotle says that everything would be both true, and untrue at the same time

1 comment:

  1. Aristotle seems a lot more (moderately) skeptical than Plato, though both do indeed stand out from Pyrrho et al by affirming the search for truths (in Aristotle's case) and The Truth (Plato).

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