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Casey Perin. The Demands of Reason: An Essay on Pyrrhonian Scepticism. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. iii + 130. Cloth, $49.95.
Professional philosophy is overdue for a Pyrrhonian revival. For too long, the skeptic has been either overlooked or regarded as an object of pity (for the feebleness of his arguments) or contempt (for his appearing to thumb his nose at the canons of reason and morality). Even among the most learned and philosophically astute commentators, those who would be best positioned to develop a philosophically sophisticated and compelling interpretation of Pyrrhonism, it has found few defenders, many detractors, and has generally suffered by its having been misunderstood, caricatured, or conflated with contemporary varieties of skepticism. Casey Perin's eloquent little essay is therefore a refreshing contribution to the literature on Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism.
The focus of the essay is tightly circumscribed. In four article-length chapters, Perin is concerned "exclusively with Pyrrhonian Scepticism as it is presented by Sextus Empiricus in his Outlines," and even that treatment is, as he says, "highly selective" (1-2). He does not examine in any great detail Sextus's use of the ten modes of Aenesidemus or discuss Sextus's other skeptical treatises, nor does he explore,...