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* SKEPTICISM. 214 SKIING. SKEPTICISM (from skeptic, OF., Fr. seep- iique, from Gk. cKiWTwbi, skeptikos, inquiring, from aKiTtTeaBaL, skeptesthai, to consider; con- nected with Lat. specere, to look, OHG. spehOn, tier, spiihen, to spy, Skt. »pas, to look). A term applied in philosophy to any system which leaves in doubt either the existence of a world of reality transcending experience (metaphysical skepti- cism ) or the possibility of a valid knowledge (epistemologieal skepticism). As, however, doubt as to metaphysical reality in the last resort rests on suspicion of man's ability to know anything about such reality, all skepticism is ultimately epistemologieal; i.e. it rests upon views as to the scope and validity of knowledge. The Sophists (q.v. ) of the fifth century B.C. were many of them skeptics. Gorgias (q.v.) declared that all statements are false, and the reason he gave was that a true judgment is. an expression of abso- lute identity; this contention may be illustrated by an insistence that no man is good, for the simple reason that everj' man is man, and only f/ood is good. Such a doctrine involving the falsehood of all significant propositions is im- plicitly at least a denial of the possibility of all real knowledge. Gorgias even went further and argued that there is nothing (nihilism): adding that if there were anything it could not be known (skepticism), and even if it could be known it could not be taught. Protagoras (q.v.) of Alidera taught that all we could know is our perception of things, but not things. Man is the measure of the Knowable Universe. After the constructive work of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, it was natural that skepticism should by reaction take a more definite stand, and this it did in Pyrrho and his school. Pyrrho's main thesis was that things are inaccessible to our knowledge, and hence it is becoming in us to suspend judgment. It seems that the school of Pyrrho was the first to win the appellation of 'skeptics,' and so representative was its skepti- cism that to this day the word Pyrrhonism, de- rived from the name of the founder of the school, is used as synonymous with skepticism of a thorough-going kind. Timon, Pyrrho's pupil, carried skepticism to its logical conclusion, which of course is contradictory with and yet necessitated by the premise from which it is drawn. This premise is that equally good rea- sons can be given for any proposition and for its contradiction. This principle applied to the doc- trines of skepticism themselves involves the re- sult that as good reasons can be given for an anti-skeptical as for a skeptical view. Tliis re- sult of course takes away all reasonable advan- tage which the doubter may claim to have over his opponent, and the only course left for him is to give expression to his suspense of judgment by silence on the subject of skepticism. The Middle Academy, of whom Arcesilaus (q.v.) and Carne- ades (q.v.) were the most prominent leaders, were somewhat less radical in their skepticism ; they had the logical grace to have some doubts as to the truth of a skepticism that doubted everything. ^Enesidcmus (q.v.) elaborated ten reasons for skepticism, and called them tropes (Greek, tropoi, methods, i.e. of proving skepti- cism). Agrippa and Sextus Empiricus (q.v.) were other noted skeptics of antiquity. In the Middle Ages Algazel (q.v.) in Arabia and Duns Scotus (q.v.) in Europe joined a philosophical skepticism with an miswerving religious faith. With the Renaissance, the iniluence of ancient skepticism began to show Itself in the writings of such men as Montaigne (q.v.), Sanchez, and Charron ((|.v.), but modern skepticism did not find its adeciuate expression till Hume (q.v.) wrote his celebrated Treatise of Buiiiaii Suture (173!l). In Book I. of this work is to be found the conclusion which Hume draws from his pre- vious speculations, and not even those experi- ences of life which have a practical import here escape the touch of doubt. "In all the incidents of life we ought still to preserve our skepticism. If we believe that fire warms, or water refreshes, 'tis only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise." "A true skeptic will be diffi- dent of his philosophical doubts, as well as of his philosophical conviction; and will never refuse any innocent satisfaction, which offers itself, upon account of either of them." Kant (q.v.) and Spencer (q.v.) are dogmatic skeptics with regard to ultimate reality. We know the phe- nomenal world, but the world of things-in-them- selves (Kant) or the absolute (Spencer) is un- knowable. This dogmatic skepticism is at the present day called agnosticism (q.v.). For a criticism of skejiticism, see Knowledge, Theory OF. See also Janet, "Le scepticisme moderne." in Mattres de la pensee moderne (Paris, 1883) ; Owen, Evenings n-ith the Sceptics (London, 1881); Brochard, Les sceptigties grecs (Paris, 1887) ; Maccoll. The Greek Sceptics from Pyr- rho to Sextus (London, 1869). SKEK'EYVORE. A dangerous rock in the Atlantic Ocean i miles southwest of the island of Tiree of the Inner Hebrides. A large light- house was with great difficulty constructed here in 1838-44. See LlGiiTliocsE. SKETCH-BOOK, The. A collection of tales and sketches of travel, chiefly in England, by Washington Irving (1820) "under the name "Geoffrey Crayon." The best known of the tales are '/Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." SKETCH'LEY, Arthur. See Rose, George. SKIEN, sken. A town of Southern Norway, on the Skiens Elv, 62 miles southwest of Chris- tiania (Map: Norway, C 7). It has a handsome town hall, and has been substantially rebuilt since the last great fire in 1886. It has a num- ber of cotton, flour, and saw mills, and manufac- tures wood pulp, paper, furniture, and chemicals. There is a copper mine in the neighborhood, and the chief exports are ice, timber, wood pulp, and copper. Inland tourist steamers depart from Skien for the lakes of Telemarken, Skien is the birthplace of Ibsen. Population, in 1901. 11.343. SKIING, skeTng (from Dan., Norweg. siki, from Icel. skip, snow-shoe, billet of wood, AS. sold. OHG. scif. Ger. Scheit, billet of wood; con- nected with Lith. skedra, Lett, skaidn, Gk. irx'so, schiza, splinter, Skt. chid, to split). The method by which the inhabitants of Norway. Sweden, parts of Russia, and parts of North and South America propel themselves over the snow. The ski is, in fact, the Norseman's snow-shoe, differ- ing from the American Indian snow-shoe in hav- ing its bearing surface of solid wood and not a webbed irame. The antiquity of the ski is very great. The runners are made of hard pine or ash, generally from six to eight feet long, one-