Pyrrhonism as therapeutic skepticism
Pyrrho's skepticism suspends judgment on all non-evident claims to reach tranquility (ataraxia). Doubt is not an end but a practice aimed at psychological peace.
Pyrrhonism How The Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism
6 ideas
Greek and Buddhist skepticism share a lineage
Kuzminski argues Pyrrho absorbed ideas from Indian ascetics encountered on Alexander's campaign. Pyrrhonism is thus a Western counterpart to Buddhist non-attachment.
Suspension of judgment via equipollence
Facing opposed arguments of equal force, the skeptic withholds assent, neither affirming nor denying. This equipollence dissolves the disturbance caused by dogmatic belief.
Living by appearances, not essences
Pyrrhonists act on how things appear while suspending belief about their hidden nature. One can function among phenomena without asserting metaphysical truths.
Ataraxia as the goal of philosophy
Philosophy is reframed as a path to freedom from anxiety rather than a system of truths. Liberation comes from releasing the compulsion to hold firm beliefs.
Dogmatism is the source of suffering
Both traditions locate distress in clinging to fixed views about good and bad. Withdrawing that clinging, not acquiring correct doctrine, ends the disturbance.