Your Instructions

Choose one practice from the menu below. Perform the exercise for 10–15 minutes, then provide a reflection. In your reflection, you must use at least three glossary terms from our first four lessons (e.g., assent, ataraxia, logical consistency, informal fallacy, confirmation bias, JTB Theory, or epoché).

The Menu of Options

Option 1: The Pyrrhonian Observation Walk

The Setup
Take a 10–15 minute walk without headphones, phone use, or distractions. Bring only a notebook.

The Practice
As thoughts arise (“That car is annoying,” “I’m bored,” “This is relaxing”), silently note them as appearances rather than truths.

Do not argue with the thought. Do not endorse it.
Do not suppress it.
Simply register: “This thought appeared.”

The Pyrrhonian Challenge
Try to withhold assent—neither accepting nor rejecting the content of the thought.

Reflect
Which thoughts demanded assent automatically?
Which were easiest to let pass?
Did suspending judgment increase, decrease, or leave unchanged your sense of calm (ataraxia)?

Option 2: The Agrippan "Why" Audit

The Setup
Choose a belief you feel confident about—academic, moral, political, or everyday.

The Practice
Write the belief at the top of the page. Then repeatedly ask:
“Why do I believe this?”
Each answer becomes the target of the next “Why?”

The Skeptical Wall
Continue until you hit one of Agrippa’s stopping points:

• Infinite regress (the reasons never end)

• Dogma (“It just is”)

• Circularity (the belief supports itself)

Reflect
Where did your reasoning stop—and why there?
Did your belief feel stronger, weaker, or simply different afterward?

Option 3: The Baconian "Idol" Scan

The Setup
Spend 10–15 minutes observing a social media argument, comment thread, or televised debate.

The Practice
Ignore who is right. Instead, look for Bacon’s Idols of the Mind at work.

Focus especially on:
Confirmation bias, Belief bias, Tribal or emotional reasoning.

The Empiricist Challenge
Try to spot at least two cognitive distortions that prevent inquiry from following evidence where it leads.

Reflect
Which Idol seemed most dominant?
Did you notice these same distortions in yourself while watching?

Option 4: The Cartesian Senses-Check

The Setup
Choose a vivid sensory experience:

Cold water on your hands, the taste of food, ambient sound…

The Practice
Attend closely to the sensation.
Then introduce Descartes’ doubt:
Could this be a dream?
Is there any internal marker proving wakefulness?

The Rationalist Challenge
Try to identify anything “clear and distinct” that guarantees certainty.

Reflect
Did you feel doubt? Why do you think this was the case?
Did doubt flatten the experience—or intensify it?
What did this reveal about the relationship between certainty and experience?

Submission Guidelines

You may submit your reflection in the format that best fits your style:

• Written Log: 250–500 words.

• Audio/Video Memo: A 3-minute recording of you describing the practice and your findings.

• Visual Sketch: A drawing or diagram of your "thought stream" or "justification chain" with at least 150 words of written annotation explaining the philosophical links.