The Happy Skeptic

These days when we call someone "a skeptic" it has, many times, a pejorative ring. That guy doesn't believe in, or stand for, anything, we're implying. So, it may come as a surprise to many, that Skepticism is a legitimate philosophical school and purportedly a path to happiness.

Pyrrho (360-270 BC) is considered by most to be the first philosopher of Skepticism. After examining the propositions of all the major philosophical theories of his day, and comparing them one against another, he found it impossible to determine which one(s) were true or correct and which ones were false or incorrect. Pyrrho then took it a step farther when he asserted that we cannot really know the inner substance or truth of anything, we can only know its appearance. In other words, he advocated a sort of ancient phenomenological approach. You can know when you're hungry or horny, but you can't know whether the claims made by any philosophies or religions are true or not.

What does all this have to do with happiness? Alot. Basically, Pyrrho contended that the best way to live, the way to be truly happy, is to give up ideas, theories, etc., and simply to suspend judgement and live in a state of "ataraxia," i.e., freedom from worry. Sextus Empiricus, the author of Outlines of Pyrrhoism, the best account of Pyrrho's skeptical philosophy says, " By suspending judgement, by confining oneself to phenomena or objects as they appear, and by asserting nothing definite as to how they really are, one can escape the perplexities of life and attain an imperturbable state of mind."

Pyrrho is like an ancient Greek Bobby McFerrin. "Don't worry, be happy he says." But he goes a bit further than Bobby when he says, "And don't go claiming that certain ideas or belief systems are either true or false." Thus he was the first advocate of "noncognitivism" which tell us that we can't know truth cognitively, so quit asserting, arguing and fighting about it -- whether that disagreement be in the halls of academe, in the pulpit or on the battlefield! His ideal of a peaceful, stress-free life that comes when we give up meaningless judgments is often compared with the ideal life advocated by the Stoics and Epicureans, and even to enlightenment as discussed by certain schools of Buddhism.

Living in a state of "knowledgeable ignorance" is different than just being dumb as a stump. It is based on reasoning and understanding, rather than naivete or limited mental capacity. The true Skeptic says since we really can't know the ultimate truth of anything, let's just quit arguing, live simply, and enjoy life. Sounds like a good plan to me!