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RadicalskepticismWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Radicalskepticism
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Radicalskepticismorradicalscepticismisthephilosophicalpositionthatknowledgeismostlikely
impossible.[1]Radicalskepticsholdthatdoubtexistsastotheveracityofeverybeliefandthatcertainty
isthereforeneverjustified.Todeterminetheextenttowhichitispossibletorespondtoradicalskeptical
challengesisthetaskofepistemologyor"thetheoryofknowledge".[2]
TheAncientGreekphilosophersPlato,CratylusandPyrrhoaswellasRomanphilosopherSextus
Empiricusareamongthosewhoexpoundedtheoriesofradicalskepticism.
Inmodernphilosophy,tworepresentativesofradicalskepticismareMicheldeMontaigne(most
famouslyknownforhisskepticalremark,Quesayje?,'WhatdoIknow?'inMiddleFrenchmodern
FrenchQuesaisje?)andDavidHume(particularlyassetoutinATreatiseofHumanNature,Book1:
"OftheUnderstanding").
Asradicalskepticismcanbeusedasanobjectionformostorallbeliefs,manyphilosophershave
attemptedtorefuteit.Forexample,BertrandRussellwroteSkepticism,whilelogicallyimpeccable,is
psychologicallyimpossible,andthereisanelementoffrivolousinsincerityinanyphilosophywhich
pretendstoacceptit.[3]

Seealso
Cratylism
Nihilism

References
1.Feyerabend,Paul(1999).ForandagainstMethod.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress.p.395.ISBN0
226467759.
2.Dancy,Jonathan(1993).ACompaniontoEpistemology.Oxford:Blackwell.p.89.ISBN0631192581.
3.Russell,Bertrand(1948).Humanknowledge,itsscopeandlimits.NewYork:SimonandSchuster.p.9.
OCLC373835.

Notes
TheEpistemologyPage(http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/epage.htm)
Leavitt,Fred:"DancingwithAbsurdity:YourMostCherishedBeliefs(andAllYourOthers)are
ProbablyWrong.(2015)PeterLangPublishers.
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