Skeptical Philosophizing
... not seem possible to move past having one simple, indubitable principle (in Descartes' case, the "Cogito") into knowledge of other things. Indeed, Descartes seems guilty of this, since the only way he moves from "I think, therefore I am" to "God exists" is by admitting other ideas that do not seem analytically true. The second kind of skepticism is Pyrrhonism, a self-defeating position according to Hume because of its denial of the possibility of all knowledge. Ancient skepticism found argu- ments against virtually all philosophical claims to certainty, and in rejecting knowledge, favored a mental state of continual unrest and disbelief. Hume notes that in the end, however, "nature is always too strong for principle," or that if we were to accept such Pyrrhonian arguments, we would have to cease engaging in life, lay down on the ground and die, for what can we be sure of otherwise? Hume's preferred type of philosophy, if you will recall, grounds itself on practical action rather than on abstract reasoning. Thus Hume takes into account the fact that there are some things which human nature simply compels us to do despite all philosophers' injunctions. This is a position which has com...