/lit/ - Literature

Pascal on Stoicism vs. Pyrrhonism

>Epictetus and Montaigne are, he said, both of them
>right in one direction and wrong in another. Epic-
>tetus recognised the duty of man. He saw that man
>ought to look upon God as his chief object and submit
>to him right willingly in all things. But he fell into
>the error of thinking that man was of his own self
>capable of fulfilling this duty. As for Montaigne,
>having set himself to find out what rule of life reason
>would dictate apart from the light of faith, he found
>that reason left thus to herself could end in nothing
>but pyrrhonism. But his error lay in being satisfied
>that man should keep to what he can do and let
>be what he ought to do ; he was wrong in that he
>approved the adoption of custom and convenience as
>the sole rule of life, and would have us fall asleep on
>the pillow of sloth. Thus the one recognised the duty
>of man but erred in inferring from that duty his
>ability to perform it ; whereas the other recognised
>man's impotence, but erred in making that the measure
>of his duty.