Pascal on the Uses of Scepticism‪.‬

WOULD IT BE TOO MUCH to say that scepticism is the "bad conscience" of post-Christian philosophy? None of the main currents of modern thought can rightly be described as sceptical. On the contrary, they are constituted by an uneasy but antagonistic relationship to scepticism. Asserting that something foundational can be known with certitude, modern philosophical (and subphilosophical) systems tend toward dogmatism. Some would trace the modern horror of scepticism back to Descartes. (1) This is tempting but too easy. More than a century before Descartes, Luther faults Erasmus for failing to see that Christianity entails the flat denial of any scepticism. "A Christian ought ... to be certain of what he affirms, or else he is not a Christian.... Anathema to the Christian who will not be certain of what he is supposed to believe, and who does not comprehend it. How can he believe that which he doubts?" (2) Some twenty years ago, reflecting on the question of Christian philosophy, Mark Jordan noted the possibility that Christianity will undo the "skeptical restraint of Greek philosophy" so as to produce a "worse dogmatism." (3) Such a danger, Jordan suggests, "has often enough been witnessed in Christian thought." He adds,