By: Nigel RamozLeslie

1
Skepticism

• By Nigel Ramoz-Leslie
• History 315 Civilization and Depravity

2
Introduction

• Skepticism emerged as a belief of no doctrine
  and constituted suspending judgment on
  everything (Oxford Reference)
• Skepticism examines differences of physis and
  nomos through diametrical opposites (they do x,
  y, and z, we dont)
• Skepticism tries to provide understanding of
  other cultures by applying principles of
  rationality to certain practices
• The way that the practices are depicted often
  perpetuates societal stigmas reinforcing negative
  perceptions
• Theory fades as it becomes problematic to the
  beliefs of the us culture

3
Origins of Skepticism

• Scythians have importance over their national
  traditions and punish those that introduce
  alien customs (Hdt. IV80)
• Egyptian methods of calendar cycles are better
  than the Greek (Hdt II4)
• The practice of dowry prostitution is viewed as
  ingenious (Hdt. I 196)
• Most material in the Sourcebook comes after 100
  C.E. (the exceptions being Plato, Cicero, and
  Philo Judaeus)

4
Cultural Understanding

• How do you know that nationes hold that belief?
  M. Tullius Cicero, 60.1)
• Pattern of The Massagatae hold their wives in
  common, while the Greeks do not (Aenesidemus of
  Cnossus, 59)
• Diogenes went around in a sleeveless tunic,
  while we dress normally (Sextus Empiricus, 64.1)
• Having sex with a woman in public, though
  shameful among us, is deemed not shameful among
  some Indians (Sextus Empiricus, 64.2)

5
Rationality within the irrational

• Men became negligent of piety due to the
  scarcity of fruit (Theophrastus of Eresus, 67)
• During great crises-war, plague, or drought-
  Phoencians used to sacrifice one of their most
  beloved (Porphyrius of Tyre, 68.1)
• They eat this type of food I.e. meat out of
  necessity (Porphyrius of Tyre, 68.2)
• He had in view the interests of agriculture and
  wished to check the bad practice of the rabble
  (Porphyrius of Tyre, 68.3)
• Indeed a law from reason commands them (Philo
  Judaeus of Alexandria, 61)

6
Perpetual Depravity

• Other cultures are more abnormal than any
  abnormality, and more bestial than any
  bestiality (Porphyrius of Tyre, 68.3)
• This the stumbling Pythagoreans believe in
  error (Sextus Empiricus, 64.3)
• I cannot despise the foolishness of the rabble
  and the ignorant (M. Tullius Cicero 60.2)
• The implications of a normal culture assume a
  complex of superiority of practices and beliefs
  (Sextus Empiricus, 64.1)

7
Damnanai

• The result of their living there was that the
  Ethiopians learned Egyptian manners and became
  more civilized (Hdt. II30)
• Hercules, persuaded their descendants to replace
  these unholy sacrifices (Ambrosius Theodosius
  Macrobius 66)
• In Syria they used to sacrifice a maiden
  annually to Athena, but now they sacrifice a
  deer (Porphyrius of Tyre, 68.1)

8
Criticisms of the Us

• Zeus, addressed Hera, his sister and his wife
  (Sextus Empiricus, 64.2)
• Hermes is the greatest thief, they cause it not
  to be considered unjust, for how could a god be
  evil? (Sextus Empiricus, 64.2)
• It seems abnormal that they themselves do these
  things, yet penalize the barbaroi for acting
  without piety (Plutarchus of Chaeronaea, 63)
• In our capital city they slaughter a human being
  during the feast of Zeus Latiarius (Porphyrius
  of Tyre, 68.1)

9
Ideas to remember

• Skepticism tries to escape common misconceptions
  about other cultures and attempts to view all
  beliefs equally
• The effect of this cultural relativism is that
  audiences conceptions of depravity remain the
  same or become worse
• Criticism of the beliefs of the majority has the
  opposite effect desired and causes these sorts of
  ideas to be far and few between

10
Bibliography

• Herodotus of Halicarnassus. 2003. The Histories.
  A. Selincourt, translator. Penguin Classics.
• Gisela Striker "Sceptics" The Oxford Classical
  Dictionary. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony
  Spawforth. Oxford University Press 2003. Oxford
  Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
  Whitman College. 29 October 2008
  http//www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?su
  bviewMainentryt111.e5733
• Sourcebook 59(Aenesidemus of Cnossus), 60.1 and
  60.2(M. Tullius Cicero), 61(Philo Judaeus of
  Alexandria), 63(Plutarchus of Chaeronaea), 64.1,
  64.2, and 64.3(Sextus Empiricus), 66(Ambrosius
  Theodosius Macrobius) 67(Theophrastus of Eresus),
  68.1, 68.2, and 68.3(Porphyrius of Tyre)
• Wordpress. "Digital Karate." Available from
  http//www.digitalkarate.net/wordpress/wp-content/
  uploads/2007/08/skeptical-cat-is-fraught-with-skep
  ticism.jpg. Internet accessed 29 October 2008.