Fenômeno e conflito: Sexto contra Porchat

Opposing the original Skeptic as portrayed by Sextus Empiricus to Oswaldo Porchat’s Neopyrrhonist, the paper aims to show the essential difference between the two, especially in regard to the notion of phainómenon. Porchat offered a brilliant and innovative interpretation of Sextus, but failed to realize a somewhat anachronistic aspect of the notion of “the apparent”: it is part of the conflict that leads the skeptic to suspension of judgment and it impacts the skeptic not only psychologically, but also philosophically. The outcome is that the Ancient Skepticism, unlike Neopyrrhonism, is as much an outcome of examining dogmatic and metaphysical discourse as of contemplating the apparent things.