Epoché

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Epoché (ἐποχή "era") (European transcription epochè or epokhé) is a Greek term which, in its philosophical usage, describes the theoretical moment where all judgments about the existence of the external world, and consequently all action in the world, is suspended. The term was introduced by Metrodorus of Lampsacus.^[1] One's own consciousness is subject to immanent critique so that when such belief is recovered, it will have a firmer grounding in consciousness. This concept was developed by the Greek skeptics and plays an implicit role in skeptical thought, as in René Descartes' radical epistemic principle of methodic doubt. The term was popularized in philosophy by Edmund Husserl. Husserl elaborates the notion of 'phenomenological epoché' or 'bracketing' in Ideas I. Through the systematic procedure of phenomenological reduction, one is thought to be able to suspend judgment regarding the general or naive philosophical belief in the existence of the external world, and thus examine phenomena as they are originally given to consciousness.

Epoché and skepticism

Epoché played an interesting role in Pyrrhonism, the skeptical philosophy of Pyrrho. On the basis of claiming that we do not know anything, Pyrrho argued that the preferred attitude to be adopted is Epoché, i.e., the suspension of judgment or the withholding of assent. It is not true that the result of this is an embrace of the idea that we have no rationale to choose one way of action or another; rather, one kind of life or one kind of action cannot be definitively said to be the 'correct' way or action. Instead of the Skeptic suggesting a life of inaction, he/she insists that one ought to live according to customs, laws, and traditions. Also, it is important to note that the Skeptics do not dogmatically assert the inability to know anything: the very word SKEPSIS means 'always searching/investigating'--it would, indeed, be counter-intuitive to boldly assert that nothing can be known since that very proposition itself would then be elevated to the status of something which is known.

Notes

See also

• Agrippa's Trilemma
• Ataraxia

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