ethical and religious
teachings, to examine the grounds of their belief, and to put in
practical use the right of reason and free discussion.

Scepticism was the antecedent of freedom of conscience and
rational criticism,[2] and the absolute right of scientific
thought. The Sceptics, however, reaped none of the benefits of
their own system. They remained, as it were, always on the
threshold of possible progress. With the keys to great
discoveries in their hands, the doors of philosophical and
scientific advancement were for ever closed to them by the
limitations of their own system. The inherent weakness of
Pyrrhonism lay in its psychological inconsistency and in its
negative character. I think that we may safely say that
Pyrrhonism was the most consistent system of Scepticism ever
offered to the world, and yet it proves most decidedly that
complete Scepticism is psychologically impossible. A man may
give up his belief in one set of ideas, and, if they are ideas
that are popularly accepted, he will be called a Sceptic, as was
the case with Hume. He must, however, replace these ideas by
others equally positive, and then he is no longer a Sceptic, but
a Dogmatic, for he believes in something.

[1] Compare Lewes _Op. cit._ p. 463.

[2] Compare Chaignet _Op. cit._ p. 460.

We have shown that the greatest thinkers of Pyrrhonism, Pyrrho,
Aenesidemus, and Agrippa, were not examples of absolute
Scepticism, and although Sextus Empiricus realised what
consistency demanded in this respect, and affirmed on almost
every page that he was asserting nothing, yet there is not a
paragraph of his books in which he does not, after all,
dogmatise on some subject. Complete Scepticism is contrary to
the fundamental laws of language, as all use of verbs involves
some affirmation. The Pyrrhonists realised this, and therefore
some of them wrote nothing, like Pyrrho, their leader, and
others advocated [Greek: aphasia][1] as one of the doctrines of
their system.

[1] _Hyp._ I. 192.

The very aim of Pyrrhonism was an inconsistent one. [Greek:
Ataraxia] was only another name for happiness, and in one
instance, even, is given as [Greek: hedone], and thus, in spite
of themselves, the Sceptics introduced a theory of happiness.
Pyrrho, like others of his time, sought the highest good, and
thought that he had found it in [Greek: ataraxia], the peace of
mind that appears in other systems of philosophy in other forms.
The differenc