溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
If Nothing Is Certain, Should We Suspend Judgment?
If every claim is met by an equally strong counterclaim, should I assert nothing at all?
Suspension of judgment is a standstill of the mind.
Pyrrho's suspension broke squarely with dogmas of certainty. When the Stoics held that "the sage grasps certain knowledge," the skeptics doubted the very criterion of that certainty. This ancient doubt slept for sixteen centuries until Montaigne revived it with "what do I know?"; Descartes wielded skepticism as a weapon yet reversed it into methodical doubt, seeking a certainty beyond it. With Hume, doubt again shook the grounds of causation and induction. Suspension served by turns as a poison dissolving knowledge and a medicine washing away hasty certainty.
In an age where assertion and dispute amplify instantly, the power to pause judgment for a while remains not weakness but a rare maturity.
The Pyrrhonist shows that any claim can be met by an equally plausible counterclaim, and so suspends judgment.
📝I, Too, Stand Before It
The Pyrrhonist shows that any claim can be met by an equally plausible counterclaim, and so suspends judgment. Remarkably, they held that from this standstill comes peace of mind: laying down certainty, both quarrel and anxiety subside. I do not agree with all of this — suspend judgment entirely and one cannot live. But when hasty certainty drives me on, I too stand before the wisdom of pausing judgment for a while.
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