Word
acatalepsy
Phoneticsacatalep·sy
Definition
n. the belief that nothing is certain or true. It is a very old idea that people cannot know anything for sure.
n. the philosophical doctrine that nothing is certain or knowable. Often associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Pyrrho and his followers, who argued that all human knowledge is subjective and unreliable.
Examples
“The philosopher argued for acatalepsy to avoid dogmatism.”
“In his treatise, the author explores acatalepsy as a path to achieving inner peace through the rejection of absolute truth.”
“While modern epistemology often focuses on the reliability of evidence, the ancient concept of acatalepsy suggests that all human perception is inherently fallible and thus no conclusion can be considered final.”
Examples
simple
“The philosopher argued for acatalepsy to avoid dogmatism.”
contextual
“In his treatise, the author explores acatalepsy as a path to achieving inner peace through the rejection of absolute truth.”
complex
“While modern epistemology often focuses on the reliability of evidence, the ancient concept of acatalepsy suggests that all human perception is inherently fallible and thus no conclusion can be considered final.”
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) + καταλαμβάνειν (katalambánein, “to seize”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/acatalepsy