Aphorism #1: Ancient Nihilism; Modern Aporia

Scepticism through the ages

“human affairs are so manifold and obscure that nothing can be clearly known, as is rightly taught by my friends the Academics, the least arrogant of the philosophers.” — Erasmus, The Praise of Folly (1511)

“Is it not better to remain in suspense than to entangle yourself in the many errors that the human fancy has produced? Is it not better to suspend your convictions than to get mixed up in these seditious and quarrelsome divisions?” Michel de Montaigne, An Apology for Raymond Sebond (1576)

“Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1660)

Nihilism is not a uniquely modern problem. It is a problem of paradigmlessness. It is a problem of living at the confluence of many tectonic plates; it can't be understood by those who live far from these earthquaking volcanic edges.