Elements of Epistemology
	Chapter I Socrates and Plato
	Chapter II Corpus Aristotelicum
	Chapter III Laughing and Weeping Philosophers
	Chapter IV Skepticism and Stoicism
	Chapter V Scholastic Epistemology
	Chapter VI Friar Roger and Sir Francis Bacons
	Chapter VII Cosmology and Epistemology
	Chapter VIII Classic Protagonists of Epistemology
	Chapter IX The Sociologists
	Chapter X Logical Positivism and Beyond ...

Skepticism and Stoicism

Stoicism was one of the most influential schools of thought during Hellenistic and Roman times. Stoicism accentuated rational self-control, adherence to the laws of nature, and a person's duty to preserve dignity and reason. The founder of the Stoic school was Zeno (c. 9664 9739; 336 - 261 BCE), who met with his students in Athens at the Stoa Poikile (Painted Arcade). Zeno was shipwrecked on the Greek shores and taught that each human should cultivate reason and recognize that one can control own feelings even if many other things are outside of his or her control. He taught his students to value freedom. They were to remember that when the circumstances become intolerable, the door is always open, as the death is preferable to slavery. Romans considered Christianity with its self-abasement, subjugation, and constant pleas to the Lord to be the religion of slaves. The decline of the Roman Empire, coinciding with the ascent of Christianity, was paralleled by decline of skepticism and stoicism. Marcus Aurelius, one of the last Roman Emperors, he was also one of the last stoic philosophers.

Skepticism Sextus Empiricus (c. 10140 10220 HE; 140-220 CE), physician and philosopher, describes a skeptic (from a Greek verb meaning to examine carefully) as an investigator (zetetic). According to Sextus, the skeptic is someone who investigates phenomena and events, suspending the judgment during the course of these investigations. Skepticism is an attitude that examines claims to certainty. It can be directly contrasted with belief, which accepts claims that a statement or a set of statements is true. Why are some people more skeptical than others? Research into this question centers around Kelleys hierarchies of personal constructs. These hierarchies are defined along a continuum reflecting their accessibility to change. The peripheral constructs are more likely to be modified by dissonant evidence or experience than the core constructs. Modification of peripheral constructs can be accomplished by rational argumentation while the modification of the core constructs requires dissonant evidence or experience with a strong emotive component. Comparisons of skeptics and believers indicate that believers are more resistant to change of their core constructs. When faced with the necessity to change a core construct, believers experience more anxiety than skeptics.