Skeptical Fideism in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum
Logos & Episteme, Vol. 10, pp. 95-106, 2019
12 Pages Posted: 22 May 2019
Date Written: April 23, 2019
Abstract
The work of Richard H. Popkin both introduced the concept of skeptical fideism and served to impressively document its importance in the philosophies of a diverse range of thinkers, including Montaigne, Pascal, Huet, and Bayle. Popkin’s landmark History of Scepticism, however, begins its coverage with the Renaissance. In this paper I explore the roots of skeptical fideism in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, with special attention to Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, the oldest surviving text to clearly develop a skeptical fideist perspective.
Keywords: Cicero, Academic skepticism, skeptical fideism
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