The “Wise Pyrrhonism” of the Académie Royale Des Sciences of Paris: Natural Light and Obscurity of Nature According to Fontenelle

Abstract

In this paper, my aim is to study the “wise pyrhonism”, which, according to Fontenelle, should ground the system of physics. However, the methodological scepticism (i.e. the close review of the proofs, either rational or experimental) leads to a in principle scepticism, which doubts of the possibility of a certain physics. The example of chemistry, the most obscure part of physics, shows how the difficulty is solved. According to Fontenelle there are several ways to elaborate knowledge. It is a kind of historical pragmatism that allows to think that it is possible to achieve the constitution of the true physics.