Cynics & Sceptics

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell

Ch. XXVI Cynics & Sceptics

Three types of intellectual stances to the world:
1) In harmony with their surroundings, light reformist thinking
2) Radical and revolutionary, major reforms needed and an expectation of radical reforms coming
3) Despair at the current situation and a lack of hope for the world, good only comes from mystical transfiguration

"The psychological preparation for the other-worldliness of Christianity begins in the Hellenistic
period, and is connected with the eclipse of the City State" (Russell, 229). Philosophy shifted from the question of how to make a good state to how to survive in suffering, how can one be good in a world gone bad?

Four famous schools of philosophy formed around the time of Alexander: Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics and Sceptics.

Cynicism began with Antisthenes and Diogenes. Antisthenes was a contemporary of Plato & Socrates, being about 20 years older than Plato. He formed a protocommunism and took up for the uneducated, common man. He believed that anything that can be known can be known by all.

Diogenes, Antisthenes pupil, was the founder of cynicism. He lived like a dog, rejecting every social convention. (Cynic comes from the word canine).

"He sought virtue and moral freedom in liberation from desire: be indifferent to the
goods that fortune has to bestow, and you will be emancipated from fear" (Russell, 231).

All Greek philosophers after Aristotle had a withdrawal sort of look at life, the world is not good, let's learn how to be independent of it.

Cynicism did not teach abstinence to the good things of the world, only an indifference to them.

Scepticism, built on what was good in Cynicism and became a more complete and rounded philosophy.

Pyrrho of Elis, who traveled with Alexander all the way to India, moved back home and founded Scepticism, a formalization and synthesizing of older thoughts.

Scepticism took on a local flavor wherever it was. They adopted the local religious customs, not because they were inherently right, but that they could not be proved wrong and it was beneficial to follow the custom.

Scepticism became popular because it allowed people to not worry about the future. The future was uncontrollable so why not enjoy the present.

After Pyrrho came Timon, who practiced a skepticism similar to Hume. After Pyrrho came Arcesilaus who housed skepticism in Platonic thought. Rather than focusing on Plato's belief in the Forms and the superiority of the immortal soul, Arcesilaus treated the Socratic dialogues as the end, not the means. Most of the dialogues don't end with a positive conclusion and a lot of them argue both sides well. Arcesilaus saw this as the embodiment of skepticism.

The Academy became skeptical for two hundred years after Arcesilaus and produced a number of variations on the school. One of which, that of Clitomachus, seemed to agree with more modern philosophers as he based his skepticism on probabilities: "Probability should be our guide in practice, since it is reasonable to act on the most probable of possible hypotheses" (Russell, 238).

Sextus Empiricus, a Roman skeptic, used the problem of evil and his skepticism to argue against the existence of God, or at least, knowing that God exists: "Those who affirm positively that God exists cannot avoid falling into an impiety. For if they say that God controls everything, they make Him the author of evil things; if, on the other hand, they say that He controls some things only, or that He controls nothing, they are compelled to make God either grudging or impotent, and to do that is quite obviously an impiety" (Russell, 239).

Ancient skepticism had enough power in it to make men dissatisfied with the ancient, traditional and state religion. But it had no answer to fill the void. (Modern skepticism, Russell notes, is "supplemented, in most of its advocates, by an enthusiastic belief in science" (Russell, 239). The hollowing out done by Skepticism paved the way for an invasion of oriental religions that competed with one another until the domination of Christianity.