Sextus and External World Skepticism

Chapter 14 discusses the scope of Pyrrhonian skepticism and how it compares with the scope of Cartesian skepticism, with a focus on external world skepticism. At least three general views have been held. First, some commentators think that Pyrrhonian skepticism is less extensive than Cartesian skepticism is. Secondly, Descartes denies that there is a difference in the scopes of ancient and Cartesian skepticism. Thirdly, Hegel thinks that ancient skepticism is more extensive than the skepticism from Descartes’s day to his own is. This chapter argues that the Pyrrhonian skeptics and the Cyrenaics countenance external world skepticism in a recognizable sense. Hence, contrary to a familiar view, Descartes is not the first philosopher to expound external world skepticism.