Translation:The Greek Skeptics/Introduction I

=The history of skepticism=

Chapter I: Presocratic Philosophy
 If we are to believe certain skeptics, we do not have to go too far back to find the origins of skepticism: they lie with the origins of human thought itself. "Some skeptics," Diogenes Laërtius tells us, "consider Homer to be the precursor of their sect, because more than any other, he says different things about the same topics,  never defining nor expressly affirming."

In proper language, the word "skepticism" may be used to describe the state of a mind that not simply doubts, but that doubts for scientifically determined reasons. Yet is this not the true and final meaning, because, if it were, which philosopher would not be a skeptic? A true skeptic is not someone who deliberately doubts and reflects on his doubt; he is not even one who believes nothing and asserts that nothing is true,

Of these three forms of skepticism,

The first two forms of skepticism can be seen as the seeds of true skepticism. In history, they appear long before skepticism is finally established. We also see signs of skepticism in the early days of philosophy, among Presocratic philosophy, especially among the Sophists, as well as in Socratics.

I.
Les Sceptiques grecs/Introduction/I