The blackest of them all

I cannot see why Grice finds he has to fight against Scepticism on his way to the Holy of Holies.

The antonym, Dogmatism, cares me much more. And Phyrro, if you look at him, looks like my kind of chap.

Cheers,

JL

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Pyrrhonian, a. and sb. Also 7 -ien, 8 -ean. [a. Fr. pyrrhonien (Rabelais,
16th c.), f. L. pyrrhonius, -eus adj. and sb. (f. Pyrrho, Gr. Pu´rrwn,
name of a sceptic philosopher of Elis: see definition s.v. Pyrrhonism): see -an.]

A adj. = Pyrrhonic a.
1651 Biggs New Disp. §159 The most pyrrhonian incredulity may be evinced.
1678 Manton Serm. xiv. Wks. 1871 II. 321 The Pyrrhonian conceit that the
whole world is but a fantasy. 1751 Hume Ess. Hum. Underst. (ed. 2) xii.
iii. 254 The natural Result of the Pyrrhonian Doubts and Scruples. 1908
Hibbert Jrnl. Apr. 586 The form of consolation offered us by the Pyrrhonian
writers of the day.

B sb. = Pyrrhonist.

1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. vi. §38. 356 If he be a true Aristotelian,
or Platonist, or Pyrrhonian, or Epicurean. 1683 Dryden Life Plutarch in
Pl.'s Lives (1700) I. 18 The Pyrrhonians..who bring all certainty in
Question. 1751 Hume Ess. Hum. Underst. (ed. 2) xii. ii. 252 A Pyrrhonian
cannot propose that his Philosophy will have any constant Influence on the
Mind. 1900 Q. Rev. Oct. 432 If one has the misfortune not to be a
Christian, it is wise to be a Pyrrhonian.

Pyrrhonism. Also 8 pyrro-. [f. as prec. + -ism. In Fr. pyrrhonisme (Pascal,
17th c.).]

A system of sceptic philosophy taught by Pyrrho of Elis (c 300
b.c.), founder of the first school of Greek sceptic philosophy; the
doctrine of the impossibility of attaining certainty of knowledge; absolute
or universal scepticism; hence generally, scepticism, incredulity,
philosophic doubt.

1670 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 3), Pyrrhonism, the Doctrine or tenets of
Pyrrho. 1711 Shaftesb. Charac., Moralists iii. i, You,..tho you disown
philosophy, are yet so true a Proselyte to Pyrrhonism. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat.
(1834) I. 116 Driven into arrant pyrrhonism, as being wholly uncertain
whether we know anything or not. 1863 F. Jacox in Bentley's Misc. LIV. 241
Another noble lord..avows his disposition to extend his pyrrhonism..to
historical facts themselves. 1893 J. B. Brown Stoics & Saints 12 A
misinterpretation of the Socratic method was at the root of Pyrrhonism.
1899 S. L. Wilson Theol. Mod. Lit. 359 To lapse into the unreasoning
pyrrhonism which would treat all history in the light of `a laborious
deception skilfully concocted'.

Pyrrhonic, sb. and a. Also 6 Pironik. [f. Gr. Pu´rrwn (see prec.) + -ic.] a
sb. = Pyrrhonist. b adj. Of or pertaining to the sceptic philosopher
Pyrrho, or to his doctrines (see next); purely sceptical.

1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 120 They followe the Pironiks, whose position
and opinion it is, that there is not hel or misery but opinion. 1668 M.
Casaubon Treat. Spirits (1672) 155, I am no Sceptick or Pyrrhonick. 1725
Watts Logic ii. ii. §7 After these arose the sect of Pyrrhonics. 1831 I.
Taylor Pref. Ess. to Edwards' Freed. Will 32 Such doctrines as the
Pyrrhonic or the Stoic..have a claim to be listened to. 1892 Nation (N.Y.)
13 Oct. 275/1 The inquiring, pyrrhonic spirit of the age is fatal to
presumptions of this sort.

Pyrrhonist. [f. as prec. + -ist.] A follower or disciple of Pyrrho; a
professor of Pyrrhonism; one who doubts everything; a sceptic.

1598 Marston Sco. Villanie i. i. B viii, Fye Gallus, what, a skeptick
Pyrrhomist? 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 49/2 The distinguishing tenet of
the Pyrrhonists was their asserting an absolute acatalepsy in regard to
every thing. 1893 Liddon, etc. Life Pusey (1894) I. ii. 45 Now he..was too
much of a Pyrrhonist to think that any opinions, even when entirely
negative, were certainly true.

Hence Pyrrhonistic a. rare, of the nature of a Pyrrhonist or of Pyrrhonism.
1886 Swinburne Misc. 146 Disciples of a radically and essentially
Pyrrhonistic system of theosophy.