<P> As a philosophical school or movement, skepticism originated in ancient Greece . A number of Greek Sophists held skeptical views . Gorgias, for example, reputedly argued that nothing exists, that even if there were something we couldn't know it, and that even if we could know it we could not communicate it . Another Sophist, Cratylus, refused to discuss anything and would merely wriggle his finger, claiming that communication is impossible since meanings are constantly changing . The Sophists' leading critic, Socrates, also had skeptical tendencies, claiming that he knew nothing, or at least nothing worthwhile . </P> <P> There were two major schools of skepticism in the ancient Greek and Roman world . One was Pyrrhonian skepticism, which was founded by Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360--270 BCE). The other was Academic skepticism, so - called because its two leading defenders, Arcesilaus (c. 315--240 BCE) and Carneades (c. 217--128 BCE) were Heads of Plato's Academy . Both schools of skepticism denied that knowledge is possible and urged suspension of judgment (epoche) for the sake of mental tranquility (ataraxia). The major difference between the schools seems to have been that Academic skeptics claimed that some beliefs are more reasonable or probable than others, whereas Pyrrhonian skeptics argued that equally compelling arguments can be given for or against any disputed view . Nearly all the writings of the ancient skeptics are now lost . Most of what we know about ancient skepticism is due to Sextus Empiricus, a Pyrrhonian skeptic who lived in the second or third century A.D. His major work, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, contains a lucid summary of stock skeptical arguments . </P> <P> Ancient skepticism faded out during the late Roman Empire, particularly after Augustine (354--430 CE) attacked the skeptics in his work Against the Academics (386 CE). There was little knowledge of, or interest in, ancient skepticism in Christian Europe during the Middle Ages . Interest revived during the Renaissance and Reformation, particularly after the complete writings of Sextus Empiricus were translated into Latin in 1569 . A number of Catholic writers, including Francisco Sanches (c. 1550--1623), Michel de Montaigne (1533--1592), Pierre Gassendi (1592--1655), and Marin Mersenne (1588--1648) deployed ancient skeptical arguments to defend moderate forms of skepticism and to argue that faith, rather than reason, must be the primary guide to truth . Similar arguments were offered later (perhaps ironically) by the Protestant thinker Pierre Bayle in his influential Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697--1702). </P> <P> The growing popularity of skeptical views created an intellectual crisis in seventeenth - century Europe . One major response was offered by the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596--1650). In his classic work, Meditations of First Philosophy (1641), Descartes sought to refute skepticism, but only after he had formulated the case for skepticism as powerfully as possible . Descartes argued that no matter what radical skeptical possibilities we imagine there are certain truths (e.g., that thinking is occurring, or that I exist) that are absolutely certain . Thus, the ancient skeptics were wrong to claim that knowledge is impossible . Descartes also attempted to refute skeptical doubts about the reliability of our senses, our memory, and other cognitive faculties . To do this, Descartes tried to prove that God exists and that God would not allow us to be systematically deceived about the nature of reality . Many contemporary philosophers question whether this second stage of Descartes' critique of skepticism is successful . </P>

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