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"To our modern minds, scepticism is normally associated with frustration and sceptical conclusions are usually taken to be disturbing because they seem to stand
by shanebellone 4y ago
"To our modern minds, scepticism is normally associated with frustration and sceptical conclusions are usually taken to be disturbing because they seem to stand in the way of certainty about the world and our place in it."
Say cognitive dissonance without saying it.
"But we might be tempted to say that the appearance of the majority is to be preferred: if the majority finds honey sweet, or finds hemlock poisonous, shouldn’t we just trust them? Sextus answers negatively. He argues that we cannot prefer the majority, because the perception of the majority of Greeks is often different from the perception of the majority of, say, the Persians. We must avoid making any judgments and withhold our assent. We must be sceptics."
Interesting argument regarding democracy and virtue being mutually exclusive. Societies often conflate quorum with moral authority.
- n4r9 4y ago> Say cognitive dissonance without saying it It appears related to cognitive dissonance, but not quite the same. Cognitive dissonance is when you hold simultaneously conflicting or contradictory feelings or opinions about something. For example, you might believe that you care about animal welfare, but simultaneously eat meat indiscriminately. Both of these things fulfill an inner need, but their combination gives rise to a level of discomfort. The quotation refers to the wilful avoidance of doubt and complexity. The analogy here would be taking a position like "It is fine to eat animals because they obviously don't think or feel". This makes various presumptions about what thinking or feeling is, and the moral status of those concepts (or their negation), while dismissing the idea that this is up for debate. Again, this fulfills an inner need, but without the conflict and discomfort.
- shanebellone 4y ago"the wilful avoidance of doubt and complexity" That precisely describes the typical conflict resolution process. We almost always take the path of least resistance. Cognitive dissonance causes the behavior described.
- n4r9 4y agoIt can in some cases, but the example I described is one where I'd argue it doesn't.