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DariuszKubok
bly,totheSophists)andtothoseoftheAcademics,whopresentamature,
thoughnotentirelyunambiguousformofcriticismandassuchhave
beenthesubjectofaslewofstudies.However,itisworthtakingalook
athistoricallyearliersourcesofcriticalreflectioninpre-Pyrrhonian
thought.Thereexist,ofcourse,studiesdedicatedtospecificproblems
encompassedbycriticismduringthisperiodofthehistoryofphiloso-
phy,suchasPlato’selencticsorhypothetics,ortheaporeticsofAristotle.
Reflectiononpre-Platoniccriticalthought,analyzed,forexample,inlight
oftheskepticalthemespresentwithinit,seemsespeciallyinterest-
ing.ForskepticismjinitsGreeksensejisanexpressionofcriticism
1
and,assuch,standsinoppositiontodogmatisminbothitspositive
andnegativeforms.Itisworthnotingherethatmanyscholarsunder-
standcriticismsolelyinlightofthethoughtofImmanuelKant,who
referstotheconceptoftheaprioriconditionsofthepossibilityofexpe-
rience.Inlightofsuchanunderstanding,criticismappearsasacog-
nitiveapproachinoppositiontobothdogmatismandskepticism.Such
aconvictionisbasedonKant’stypology,whichpresentsthenecessary
stagesofphilosophyasheseesthem:dogmatism,skepticism,andcrit-
icism.
2
ThethinkerfromKönigsbergdescribesdogmatismasaway
ofthinkingthatblindlytruststheauthorityofreason,whichexpands
aprioribywayofconceptions,thatis,whichdeclarestrustofknowl-
edgewithoutfirstinvestigatingtheabilitytomakejudgmentsonobjects
beyondthesphereofpossibleexperience.Skepticism,ontheotherhand,
assumestheimpossibilityofachievingcertainty.Kantiancriticismwas
togobeyonddogmatismandskepticism.Inmyopinionhowever,such
astancemaybequalifiedasdogmaticbecauseitconsiderstheacquisi-
tionofknowledgeimpossibleandthereforemaybedescribedinterms
1
Criticismrefersbacktotheverbkr{nw(toseparate,distinguish,judge,evaluate,explain,
investigate,amongothers)andtotheadjectivekritikÒg(critical,abletodistinguish,deciding,
amongothers).
2
SeeImmanuelKant,mLogik,”in:ImmanuelKant,Werkausgabe.6.Bd.Ed.byW.Weischedel.
(Frankfurt:Suhrkamp1993);seealso:ImmanuelKant,mWelchessinddiewirklichenFortschritte,
diedieMetaphysikseitLeibnizensundWolffsZeiteninDeutschlandgemachthat?”in:Immanuel
Kant,Werkausgabe.6.Bd.W.Weischedel,ed.(Frankfurt:Suhrkamp1993).
