Pyrrhonism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A philosophical doctrine characterized by the suspension of belief in most claims of knowledge or truth based on skepticism
2. An approach to understanding the world that advocates for withholding judgment and embracing uncertainty regarding knowledge claims
3. A form of philosophical skepticism that maintains that one should refrain from asserting certainty about any propositions, promoting a state of doubt

Etymology: Pyrrho of Elis, a Greek philosopher who lived around the turn of the fourth century BCE, left no writings of his own. His ideas survive mainly through later accounts, and the school that grew from them took its name from him. Pyrrho taught that we cannot know how things truly are in their own nature, so the sensible response is to withhold judgment and remain untroubled, a state he associated with tranquillity of mind. The name passed into English through Latin "Pyrrhō" and the French "pyrrhonisme," with the suffix "-ism" added to form a doctrine name, just as with other schools of thought. The word therefore reads as "the teaching of Pyrrho," and the belief it names is the suspension of judgment on most claims to knowledge.