Argument Essay on Hume and Sextus Empiricus (Essay Sample)

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Critical thinking/Argument Essay on Hume and Sextus Empiricus
Skepticism is a philosophical tradition in the western culture that asserts that it is not possible for human beings to arrive at certain knowledge. Skepticism is based on principles such as; there is certainty in human knowledge, almost all human knowledge is true most of the time or sometimes not true and lastly, only few non-western cultures have skeptical traditions. Skepticism can also in simple terms be termed as the questioning or doubting state of mind that recognizes our tendency to err , our own fallibility and the ability to see situations through self-serving bias.
In this view, there is need for analysis of different approaches to skepticism by modern and earlier philosophers, in this case, David Hume and Sextus Empiricus respectively.
In the view of David Hume’s discussion of human knowledge of the external world, he argues that our direct indefinite access to the world surrounding us is what brings about the unreflective position about the same external world. He seems to suggest the connection between human senses with experience. He argues that the mind constitutes basically experiences and own senses. The only possible way of getting genuine knowledge from the outer world is from our inner senses. Hume interjected if we have any reason to think that the past is not exceptional from the future. But it also true that there is a possibility that the world can dramatically change hence making our previous experience completely futile in judging out the future. Past experiences can be used as a forecast of the future. Everyone is obliged to do so and mostly not possible to deviate from that view. We merely state that our past has been a good predictor. Hume asserts that this is begging of the question. He says that we are still in the past if we state that past pasts were honest predictors of past futures.
It is thus notable to say that our past only tells us about the past. Here, Hume believes that it does. He perceives that for nature to be constant and uniform in stimulating a specific effect and there has not been a time it has been discovered of its irregularity or failure in how the operation was implemented. Our perception to the transfer of past to the future is what make us feel obligated to make these secrets well understood for us to accommodate the nature of mind.
Hume argues that we don’t have to expect the past to match the future because of the secret causes. We are psychologically preprogrammed to use induction in the way we view nature. He argues that we are no different from a blind man who has mastered all his movements and duties around his home. It is hard for must to stop relying on inductive thought since it functions in general. But there is no good reason for us to rely on induction although it appears to be naturally psychological. If the blind man is left out in the world he will not be able to function since he has no connection in mind from two objects. Thus Hume tries to undermine the ordinary claims to knowledge. He argues that existence cannot be used as the source of knowledge.
Sextus Empiricus on the other hand in his view on knowledge is more oriented to our own way of perception .His main focus is the question of whether there is a possibility of finding an argument, evidence or justification which gives a more effective reason to think that a certain belief is true (represents anything external) than to think it is not. Sextus thus argues that we should conduct our lives according to how we perceive thing. He says the act of assenting to believes as harmful and unnecessary.
Sextus skepticism is described among phenomena, theoretical questions and as capacity to present antitheses. He argues than evidential conclusions are very important. In his work, Outlines of pyrrhonism, he argues that one should resolve contradictions by always suspending judgments. One should not deny that knowledge is possible thus every proposition is susceptible to doubt. He questions the reflection of appearance to reality. He argues that we may view some things differently from their actual appearance. The appearance some objects to the perceiving objects may change if there occurs a change in the relationship between the subject and the object. The general appearance of an object may with time change or become less evident to the subject.
Sextus suggests that the true judgments with regard to the true nature of how we perceive objects should be suspended. He barely concludes the inexistence of objective appearance. He does believe that the existence of our perceptions of objects in the real life. He however concludes that in as much as the appearance of the object seems to be real, we may be incapable of proving that the objects have a reality that is different from how we perceive them.
He further asserts that we cannot deny or affirm our views. We are supposed to raise judgments and find ways to prove the existence perceptions. However he does not give probability or improbability a chance. He argues that one should not state categorically on propositions since neither of them is more or less probable. He argues that we should always suspend judgments on truthiness of any category. Criterion of truth can only be judged by use another criterion therefore one cannot demonstrate any criterion of truth. A judgment on truth or falsehood of any criterion for a logical proposition suggests that there exists some uncertainty on its falsehood or truth. Sextus argues that it actually does not mean for the justification of judgments suspension to hold that there much is a certain degree of uncertainty about the falsehood or truth of a proposition but instead says that no one can prove a proposition with complete certainty.
In his view on reality, he argues that we should not make assertions about reality or unreality. One should always judge the perception reality of matter, time, space and physical laws. One should always clearly distinguish the causal relationships between phenomena and events. Sextus asserts that we should always be able to give an explanation of why and how things appear the way they are.