Capítulo 4. Chapter IV.—What Scepticism Is
[1.4.8] Scepticism is an ability, or mental attitude, which opposes appearances to judgements in any way whatsoever, with the result that, owing to the equipollence of the objects and reasons thus opposed, we are brought firstly to a state of mental suspense and next to a state of ‟unperturbedness” or quietude.
[1.4.9] Now we call it an ‟ability” not in any subtle sense, but simply in respect of its ‟being able.” By ‟appearances” we now mean the objects of sense- perception, whence we contrast them with the objects of thought or ‟judgements.” The phrase ‟in any way whatsoever” can be connected either with the word ‟ability,” to make us take the word ‟ability,” as we said, in its simple sense, or with the phrase ‟opposing appearances to judgements;” for inasmuch as we oppose these in a variety of ways—appearances to appearances, or judgements to judgements, or /alternando/ appearances to judgements,—in order to ensure the inclusion of all these antitheses we employ the phrase ‟in any way whatsoever.” Or, again, we join ‟in any way whatsoever” to ‟appearances and judgements” in order that we may not have to inquire how the appearances appear or how the thought-objects are judged, but may take these terms in the simple sense.
[1.4.10] The phrase ‟opposed judgements” we do not employ in the sense of negations and affirmations only but simply as equivalent to ‟conflicting judgements.” [6] ‟Equipollence” we use of equality in respect of probability and improbability, to indicate that no one of the conflicting judgements takes precedence of any other as being more probable. ‟Suspense” is a state of mental rest owing to which we neither deny nor affirm anything. ‟Quietude” is an untroubled and tranquil condition of soul. And how quietude enters the soul along with suspension of judgement we shall explain in our chapter (XII.) ‟Concerning the End.”