How To Be a Happy Skeptic

Come join the Philly Stoa as we continue our series on How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic, turning from Massimo Pigliucci's introductory essay to Chapter One of the book itself: "The Fundamental Question: How Do We Know?"

Cicero warned that we should not be too confident in our belief of anything. The question of how we know anything turns out not to be an abstraction reserved for seminar rooms. It is what we are doing, mostly without noticing, every time we look at something and decide what it is.

What the ancient skeptics offer is not paralysis. Cicero's term probabilis names something closer to a graded scale of confidence: a claim can be plausible, or persuasive, or consistent with everything else we know, or as well-examined as anything we call scientific, and still never quite certain. It is an ancient version of something we would now describe in Bayesian terms, and it points toward a practical question worth bringing to the session: what would it actually change, day to day, to hold beliefs at their proper strength rather than at full volume?

You are welcome to join whether or not you have read the chapter in advance. This series is part of the ongoing partnership between the Philly Stoa and the Philadelphia Ethical Society, and our aim is to create a supportive space for practicing philosophy as a lived discipline through thoughtful discussion and shared reflection. While we recommend reading the book, it isn't required to join the discussion.

How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic: The Power of Doubt in a Meaningful Life, Lessons from Cicero's Philosophy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRDZ9KN5

How to Be a Happy Skeptic with Massimo Pigliucci
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYTovOfIuac