In fact, philosophy and logic were founded as a response to sophism.

In fact, philosophy and logic were founded as a response to sophism. Skepticism After the demise of Aristotle, Skepticism was founded by a Greek philosopher called Pyrrho. His philosophy was that every object of human knowledge involves uncertainty; therefore, he argued, it is impossible ever to arrive at the knowledge of truth. According to Skepticism we only know how things appear to us, but are ignorant of their inner substance.

The diversity of opinion amongst the wise, as well as the ignorant proves this. Therefore, we ought never to make any positive statements on any subject. It is related that Pyrrho acted on his own principles to such an extreme, that his friends were obliged to accompany him wherever he went, in case he might be run over by a carriage or fall down from a cliff. Pyrrhonists suggest that we should never say, “it is so”. Rather we should say, “ it seems so”, or “ it appears so”.

Examples of Illusion & Delusion Pyrrhonists sometimes supported their argument with numerous examples of various optical illusions such as: mirage, looming, seeing sparkling stars around when you all of the sudden stand up from a sitting position, as well as other types of illusions of length, shape, touch, temperature, etc. on the one hand, and numbers of false reasoning and arguments on the other.

The only conclusion we can arrive at from this is that all so-called human opinions are delusions caused by illusions. The followings are just some examples of many false reasoning: Example One Statement One: Water is fluid (flowing). Statement Two: Ice is from water Summation: Ice is fluid! The conclusion is invalid, though the premises are valid. Example Two Statement One: That dog is a father. Statement Two: That dog is his. Summation: That dog is his father!

Again, the conclusion is obviously invalid, in spite of the validity of the premises. Example Three Statement One: All dogs are mammals. Statement Two: All cats are mammals. Summation: All dogs are cats! Throughout the history of mankind we have learned about many people who faced these questions and failed to find a satisfactory answer. As a result, they were drawn into the whirlpool of uncertainty and doubt.

Schopenhauer, Sadegh Hedayat and Abul-Ala Ma'ari are just a few examples of many such people. Unfortunately committing suicide appeared to them as the only solution to end all uncertainty. I would like to end this chapter with the first part of “The Simile of the Cave” presented by Plato.