当代世界文化中的新怀疑主义世界观（英文）

A New Skeptical Worldview for Contemporary World Cultures

在当代世界文化中,我从少数人的视角来看待怀疑主义。首先,在不考虑宗教因素的条件下,通过把我们的时代视为世俗的时代,我把怀疑主义和当代宗教批判联系起来。其次,我发现,怀疑主义在理智上极具吸引力,在我看来,它不受欢迎的原因在于它所引起的情感反应。因此,我考察了对怀疑主义的多种多样的应对之方,如古希腊和古罗马的皮浪主义、弗里德里希·尼采、圣·奥古斯汀、蒙田、笛卡尔、大卫·休谟、索伦·克尔凯郭尔以及奥古斯特·孔德等人的思想。我批判了这些思想并提出一种世俗化的怀疑主义世界观,称为“人的笑”。我相信它会和宗教形成竞争,并且会建立一种同情伦理学,这种伦理不会建立在那种毫无根据的形而上学假说之上。

I address the situation of skepticism as a minority view incontemporary world cultures. First, I associate skepticism to contemporaryconcerns by presenting a critical approach to religion and identifying the sense inwhich our age is secular despite the contemporary vigor of religion. Second,finding skepticism intellectually appealing, I suggest that the cause of itsunpopularity lies in the emotional response it occasions. I consider, accordingly,various responses to skepticism, from the Hellenistic and Roman school ofPyrrhonism to Friedrich Nietzsche, through St. Augustine, Michel deMontaigne, René Descartes, David Hume, Soren Kierkegaard, and Auguste Comte. I criticize these views and introduce in the third and final section asecular and skeptical worldview I call homo risibilis. It rivals, I believe, thebenefits of established religions, and can ground, moreover, an ethics ofcompassion without requiring unwarranted metaphysical assumptions.