Suspension of Belief

This Element offers an understanding of ancient conceptions and uses of suspension of belief while engaging with contemporary epistemology.

Daniel Vazquez (Author)

9781009500739, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 May 2024

78 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1 cm, 0.26 kg

This Element offers a systematic outline of ancient conceptions and uses of suspension of belief (understood broadly) while engaging with contemporary philosophy. It discusses the notion of epochē ('suspension of judgement') and other related terms, like aporia, aphasia, paradox, hypothesis, agnosticism, and Socratic wisdom. It examines the Academic and Pyrrhonian sceptics and some of their arguments and strategies for suspension. It also includes the use and conditions for suspension of belief in other philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Plotinus, Protagoras, and Democritus. The Element is divided into four thematic sections, each addressing one of the following questions: What is suspension of belief? When does it arise? What could its scope be? And what are its practical and moral implications?

Introduction
1. What is suspension of belief?
2. When does suspension of belief arise?
3. What could the scope of suspension be?
4. What are the practical and moral implications of suspension of belief?
Reference.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]