Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2012
Abstract
The aim of the paper is to reassess Hume's handling of scepticism in its Pyrrhonian form. I argue that, contrary to what Hume declares, his own philosophy comes close to what Sextus Empiricus sets out as the essential moments of the Pyrrhonian ἀγωγή, at least in one crucial respect: I contend that Hume's conception of belief is in line with precisely the type of doxastic state which Sextus ascribes to the Pyrrhonian sceptic as appropriate for ʻfollowing appearancesʼ.
Then I show that if such an affinity is established, Hume's attack against Pyrrhonism, launched in Enquiry XII, II, is rendered toothless.