Notes on Skepticism - Tumbolia

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Message from discussion Notes on Skepticism
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From: Noah Slater <nsla...@tumbolia.org>
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Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:27:19 +0100
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To: Noah Slater <nsla...@tumbolia.org>

Sextus Empiricus makes an interesting argument based around the idea of =
being =93party to the controversy.=94 The general impression I get from =
this argument is that any attempt to reason about something from within =
the very thing you=92re reasoning about, is inherently flawed. The idea =
is that by being within the system, or being party to the thing you=92re =
trying to judge, you perspective on things is tainted by the very thing =
you=92re trying to pass judgement on. It reminds me of a summary I once =
read about Wittgenstein=92s views on language, and to the best of my =
memory, how we=92d need to lift ourselves out of language before we were =
able to discuss it properly.

He first sets out a description of the various states you can be in =
during your life, and how these effect your perception of the world. =
Among them are ill people, and old people, and some more esoteric =
examples such as =93blood-shot=94 people and =93jaundiced=94 people. =
=93Now, considering the fact that so much discrepancy is due to the =
states we are in, and that men are in different states at different =
times, it is easy, perhaps, to state the nature of each object as it =
appears to this or that person, but difficult to say further what its =
real nature is. This is because the discrepancy does not lend itself to =
judgement. In fact, whoever attempts to resolve the discrepancy will =
find himself either in one or the other of the aforesaid states or else =
in no state at all. But now to say that he is in no state at all, that =
he is neither healthy nor sick, neither at motion nor at rest, that he =
is not of any particular age, and that he is free from the other states, =
is perfectly absurd. On the other hand, the fact of his being in some =
state or other while attempting to pass judgement will make him a party =
to the controversy. And moreover, he will be confused by the states in =
which he finds himself, and this will prevent hi from being an absolute =
judge in the matter. A person, therefore, who is in the waking state =
cannot compare the impressions of a sleeping person with those of waking =
persons, and a healthy person cannot compare the impressions of sick =
people with those of the healthy. We do, after all, tend to give our =
assent to those things which are present and have a present influence =
over us rather than to things which are are not present.=94

One of the bits that caught my eye involved the discussion of how =
reality appears to us in our dreams. This is something I=92ll come back =
to later when I start rambling about Descartes and the dream argument. =
=93Whether one is in a sleeping or waking state also makes a difference =
in the sense-impressions, since our manner of perception while awake =
differs from the perception we have in sleep; and our manner of =
perception in sleep is not like our waking perception. As a result, the =
existence of non-existence of our sense-impressions is not absolute but =
relative, since they bear a relation to our sleeping or waking state. It =
is probable, therefore, that although our dream-images are unreal in our =
waking state, they are nevertheless not absolutely unreal, for  they do =
exist in our dreams. In the same manner the realities of the waking =
state, even if they do not exist in dream, nevertheless exist.=94

References:

Scepticism, Man, & God

Selections from the major writings of Sextus Empiricus=20

Edited by Philip P. Hallie=
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