From types of skepticism to nihilism: the «Skeptical Attitude» and the search for truth

Abstract

This article carries out a study by various authors, with the purpose of distinguishing between different types of skepticism. These types of skepticism would be specifically, theoretical skepticism, practical skepticism and nihilism. To do this, we will focus our attention on the development that skepticism has had throughout history. It will be defended that the nihilism of the 19th century is an extreme form of skepticism, which ends up being differentiated from skepticism as it is known in its most classical sense, assuming a totally new movement and characteristic of the end of modern philosophy, because denies the truth intentionally and not doubtfully. Also, we will try to demonstrate that thanks to the “skeptical attitude”, whose meaning will be seen in detail, we can glimpse the possibility of getting closer to the truth, in a sense that is undoubtable to us. To carry out this enterprise, we will distinguish between theoretical truth and vital truth.