MATEUS MATOS TORMIN

In this Thesis, I address the following question: how to proceed in practical life, from an individual perspective, when faced with issues that are dear to us and about which there is widespread ethical, moral and political disagreement, a disagreement that tends to be persistent? In order to outline an answer to this question, I divided the Thesis into three main parts. In the first, I define what I understand by “moral-political disagreement” and provide a conceptual-philosophical explanation for its persistence. In the second part, I try to provide an answer to the question (i) through the investigation and elaboration of the notions of two virtues, intellectual modesty and responsibility, and (ii) through the development of a model that illustrates their exercise, based on a skeptical figure of Socrates. In summary, the answer that is outlined in the second part of the Thesis is this: faced with issues that are dear to us and about which there is broad moral-political disagreement (a disagreement that tends to be persistent), we should proceed with intellectual modesty and responsibility, following the example of a skeptical Socrates. Finally, in the third part of the Thesis, I characterize this proposal as “skeptical”, inscribing it in the rich philosophical tradition of skepticism.