Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/578

 SCARRON

516

SCEPTICISM

His great distinction in the musical world was to have laid the foundation for the new style, after- wards brought to perfection by the most famous composers, not only of the Neapolitan school, which was in great part formed by his influence (Leo, Durante, Pergolesi), but also of Germany (Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven). Domenico Alessandro's eldest son was born at Naples 26 Oct., 1685 (in the baptismal register he is called Giuseppe Domenico), and died in 1757. The esteem in which Alessandro was held, may be seen from the fact that Domenico's godfather was the Duke of Addaloni, and his god- mother the Princess of Colobrano. Domenico made himself famous by his great skill on the harpsichord. Ricordi of Milan has published his works for the clavicembalo, in si.x volumes, under the supervision of Alessasdro Longo (1906). The manuscripts of these are chiefly in the library of S. Marco at Venice. The compositions are not of equal merit. His genius often seems to forecast the style of the next century. For a few years (171.5-1719) he was choirmaster in S.Peter's Rome; during four years (1721-1725), he was engaged at the Court of Lisbon ; for twenty-five years he was at Madrid (1729-1754), but spent the last j-ears of his life again in Naples, where he died. Of Francesco, brother of Alessandro, we know that in 1684 he became violinist in the royal chapel at Naples, that fifteen years later his oratorio, "Agnus occisus ab origine mundi", was sung in Rome, and that in 1720 he gave a concert in London, where Domenico was staying at the same time. Giusej)pe Scarlatti was either grand- son or nephew of Alessandro (nipote can have the two meanings). Born at Naples 1712, he died in Vienna, 1777, where he was considered a distinguished composer. He left several operas.

Dent, A. Scarlatti: His Life and Works (London, 1905); Grove, Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1880); Thibaut, Die Reinheit der Tonkunst, 123.

A. Walter.

Scarron, Paul, French poet and dramatist, b. in Paris, 4 July, 1610; d. 7 October, 1660. His father was a judge and one of his uncles was Bishop of Grenoble. After

graduating from the Sorbonne, he received tonsure at the age of nine- teen and soon after became at- tached to the house of Charles de Beaumanoir, Bishop of Le Mans, whom he accompanied to Rome in 1635. A year later he was made a canon in Saint Julian's Cathedral with- out being in lioly orders, a benefice he resigned in -• .January, 16.52,

when he married Fran^'oi.s(^ d'Au- bigne, later Ma<lariie de Maiiitenon. He was then a cripple and for the remainder of his life was confined U) bed, being nursed by his young wife, whose devotion,

Eiety, and patience were a<imirable. In a distorted ody, he presf-rved the acutcmess of his mind, and pur- sued his literary career. His comedies "Jodclet, ou lernaUre valet" fl645j; "Ivfistrois Dorothf^es" (1646); "L'hZ-ritier ridicule" (1649); " Don Japhetd'Ann<;nie" (16.52); "L'Kcoiier de Salarnanque" (16.54); "Ix; gar- dien de mi-mfimc." (16.55); "Le marquis ridicule" (1656) contained quite a number of amusing scenee and

odd characters that Moliere borrowed. He achieved a lasting reputation by his burlesque productions, "Le Typhon" (1644), and "Le Virgile travesti" (1648- 1652), in which he displayed all the resources of his humour. The "Roman comique" (1649-1657), whose realistic presentation of customs and manners was imi- tated by later novelists, is not far from being a master- piece. There is no certainty about the place where Scarron's remains were taken, but it is now believed that he was buried in the church of Saint-Gervais.

MoRiLLOT, Scarron el le genre burlesque (Paris, 1888) ; Idem, Scarron, Etude biographigue et Uttcraire (Paris, 1890); Chardon, Scarron inconni (Paris, 1904); Magne, Scarron et son milieu (Paris, 1905).

Louis N. Delamarre.

Scepticism (Gr.ffK^^Li, speculation, doubt; ffK^irre- a-dai, to scrutinize or examine carefully) may mean (1) doubt based on rational grounds, or (2) di.sbelief based on rational grounds (cf. Balfour, "Defence of Phil. Doubt", p. 296), or (3) a denial of the possibility of attaining truth; and in any of these senses it may extend to all spheres of human knowledge (Universal Scepticism), or to some particular spheres of the same (Mitigated Scepticism). The third is the strictly- philosophical sense of the term Scepticism, which is taken, unless otherwise specified, to be universal. Scepticism is then a systematic denial of the capacity of the human intellect to know an3^thing whatso- ever with certainty. It differs from Agnosticism because the latter denies only the possibility of meta- physics and natural theology; from Positivism in that Postivism denies that we do de facto know any- thing beyond the laws by which phenomena are re- lated to one another; from Atheism in that the atheist denies only the fact of God's existence, not our ca- pacity for knowing whether He exists.

History of Scepticism.— The great religions of the East are for the most part essentially sceptical. They treat life as one vast illusion, destined some time or other to give place to a state of nescience, or to be absorbed in the life of the Absolute. But their Scepticism is a tone of mind rather than a rea- soned philo.soi)hical doctrine based upon a critical examination of the human mind or upon a study of the history of human specmlation. If we wish for the latter we must seek it among the i)hilosophies of ancient Greece. Among the (Jreeks the (>:u-liest form of philosophical speculation was directed towards an explanation of natural phenomena, and th(> (contradic- tory theories which were soon evolved by t he prolific genius of the (»reek mind, inevitably led to Scepticism. Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus, Empedoclcs, Anaxagoras, though differing on other points, one and all came to the conclusion that th(> senses, whence they had derived the data upon which their theories were built, could not be trusted. Accord- ingly Protagoras and the Sophists distinguish "ap- pearances" from "reality"; but, finding that no two philosophers could agree as to the nature of the latter, they pronounced reality unknowaljle. The t liorough- going Scepticism which resulted is apparent in the three famous propositions of Gorgi;us: "Nothing exists"; "If anything did exist it could not be known"; "If it was known, the knowledge of it would be incommunicable."

The first step towards the refutation of this Scep- ticism was the Socratic doctrine of the concept. There can be no science of the particular, said Socra- tes. Hence, before any science at all is possible, we must clear up our general notions of things and come to some agreement in n^gard to definitions. Plato, adopting this attitude, but still holding to the view that the senses can give only o6i,a. (o})inion) and not iiriffTT)nr) (true knowledge), worked out an intellectual theory of the- univense. Aristotle, who followed, n\- jected Plato's theory, and proposed a very different one in its place, with the result that another epidemic