Greek Scepticism And The Good Life

The Good Life of the Skeptic?¦ A number of classical philosophers, most notably the Stoics, suggested that a near life was unworkable unless one had the proper view about the world and what was sober and bad; this was the aim of the philosophical quest for wisdom. From this perspective, a quizzical life would appear bound to fail, since it draws one no finisher to certain knowledge or wisdom. How, then, could the sceptics share with their contemporaries the tactile sensation of a good life consisting in ataraxia - freedom from ruction? The very idea of such an end would seem on its face to be antithetical to the sceptical mantra of suspended sentiment in matters of open inquiry.

The sceptics, as represented by Sextus Empiricus, reaction that it is in fact the sceptic who will achieve what dictatorial philosophers had attempted to achieve - that is, peace of mind - precisely because of his scepticism. This is so because the sceptic discovers that one can live without having settled whole the open questions the dogmatic philosophers saw as crucial to vivacious a good life.



Freedom from disturbance, then, is a good for the sceptic, alone a qualified, undogmatic one: first, it arises from the understanding that no good is itself the end or aim of the sceptic; the notion that ataraxia comes with relief of judgment is not a dogmatic moral goal, but a mere observation. Second, ataraxia is freedom from self-imposed disturbance, for while in that location is no freedom from involuntary discomforts such as distemper or hunger, they can be borne in moderate essence, so that we experience only the pain of the sensation and no added pain as a result of our own thoughts.

The revolution of this perspective is most apparent when it is compared to the well-known argument...

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