The inherent weakness of
Pyrrhonism lay in its psychological inconsistency and in its
negative character. I think that we may safely say that
Pyrrhonism was the most consistent system of Scepticism ever
offered to the world, and yet it proves most decidedly that
complete Scepticism is psychologically impossible. A man may
give up his belief in one set of ideas, and, if they are ideas
that are popularly accepted, he will be called a Sceptic, as was
the case with Hume. He must, however, replace these ideas by
others equally positive, and then he is no longer a Sceptic, but
a Dogmatic, for he believes in something.
[1] Compare Lewes _Op. cit._ p. 463.
[2] Compare Chaignet _Op. cit._ p. 460.
We have shown that the greatest thinkers of Pyrrhonism, Pyrrho,
Aenesidemus, and Agrippa, were not examples of absolute
Scepticism, and although Sextus Empiricus realised what
consistency demanded in this respect, and affirmed on almost
every page that he was asserting nothing, yet there is not a
paragraph of his books in which he does not, after all,
dogmatise on some subject. Complete Scepticism is contrary to
the fundamental laws of language, as all use of verbs involves
some affirmation. The Pyrrhonists realised this, and therefore
some of them wrote nothing, like Pyrrho, their leader, and
others advocated [Greek: aphasia][1] as one of the doctrines of
their system.
[1] _Hyp._ I. 192.
The very aim of Pyrrhonism was an inconsistent one.
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