Suspension of judgement - Pyrrho

Pyrrho lived in Greece in the fourth century BCE and travelled as far as India, where he encountered the thought of other cultures.

This experience led him to observe that every culture interprets the things and objects of the world differently.

According to Pyrrho, it is impossible to know a thing, because for every statement defining it, an equally reasonable opposing explanation can be formulated.

Since it is impossible to be certain of anything or to know reality, Pyrrho proposes an attitude of "suspension of judgement" and "suspension of the intellect".

HOW IT WORKS. You are invited to move the objects you usually interact with, the ones you think you know, into an imaginary box. Then you are asked to practise suspension of judgement, admitting that you do not actually know these three objects.

DEBRIEFING Suspension of judgement - Pyrrho

You practised suspension of judgement towards the three objects.

Admitting that we do not really know these objects and stripping them of the meaning we normally assign to them is not easy. For example, the paddle you control has a specific meaning for you, different from that of the opposing paddle, even though they look similar.

This exercise shows how difficult it is to separate our habitual thinking from objects and their uses, challenging you to suspend judgement and consider things neutrally.