Introduction
In the history of ancient philosophy, the following stages stand out: 1) The formation of ancient Greek philosophy (VI-V centuries BC; philosophers - Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Socrates, etc.); 2) Classical Greek philosophy (V - IV centuries BC; V - IV century BC). B.C.) - teachings of Democritus, Plato, Aristotle; 3) Hellenistic-Roman philosophy (from the end of the 4th century B.C. to the 6th century A.D.) - concepts of epicureanism, stoicism, and skepticism.
The relevance of the topic of the control work is that at the end of the IV century BC the signs of the crisis of Greek slave democracy are increasing. This crisis led to the loss of political independence by Athens and other Greek policies.
The economic and political decline of Greece and the decline of the role of the policy are reflected in Greek philosophy. The efforts made by Greek philosophers to understand the objective world are gradually being replaced by a desire to reduce philosophical and scientific questions only to what is sufficient to justify the right, i.e., happiness-capable, personal behavior. There is widespread frustration in all kinds and forms of social and political life. Philosophy turns from a theoretical system into a mentality and expresses the self-sensation of a person who has lost himself in the world. Over time, interest in philosophical thinking in general drops sharply. There comes a period of mysticism, of the union of religion and philosophy. Metaphysics as a philosophy gives way to ethics, the main question of philosophy of this period is not that there are things in themselves, but how they relate to us. Philosophy is increasingly striving to become teaching that develops the rules and norms of human life. All three main philosophical trends of the early Hellenistic era are similar: stoicism, epicureanism, and skepticism. Skepticism is the direction of Hellenistic philosophy, which is born of loss of self and uncertainty.
1. Overview of the periods of skepticism development Skepticism (from Greek skeptics - considering, researching) is a philosophical direction that puts forward doubts as to the quality of the principle of thinking, especially doubts about the reliability of the truth. Moderate skepticism is limited to knowing the facts, showing restraint in all hypotheses and theories. In the ordinary sense, skepticism is a psychological state of uncertainty, doubts about something that makes one refrain from expressing categorical judgments. Ancient skepticism as a reaction to the metaphysical dogmatism of the previous philosophical schools is represented, first of all, by Piron, then by the middle and new academies (Arkesilai, Carnead) and the so-called late skepticism (Anesideme, Sextus Empiric, etc.).
Ancient skepticism has gone through many changes and phases in its development. At first it had a practical character, i.e. it acted not only as of the truest, but also as the most useful and profitable life position, and then turned into a theoretical doctrine; initially, it questioned the possibility of any knowledge, then it criticized the knowledge, but only the previous philosophy. In ancient skepticism, three periods can be distinguished:
1) Senior Pyrrhonism, developed by Pyrron himself (ca. 360-270 B.C.) and his student Timon of Flynt, belongs to the III century B.C. At that time, skepticism was purely practical: its core was ethics, and dialectics was only the outer shell; from many points of view, it was a doctrine similar to the initial stoicism and epicureanism.
2) Academism. As a matter of fact, at the time when several Pyrron's students were interrupted, the skeptical direction prevailed in the Academy; it was in the III and II centuries BC. "In the Middle Academy, the most prominent representatives of which were Arkesilai (315-240) and Carnead (214-129 BC).
3) Junior Pyrrhonism found its supporters when skepticism left the Academy. Studying the works of the Academy representatives of a later period, we can see that they systematized the skeptical arguments. The initial ethical position was overshadowed, and epistemological criticism came to the fore. The main representatives of this period were Anesidem and Agrippa. Many supporters of skepticism gained in this last period among doctors of the "empirical" school, including the Sextus Empiric.