All Sense-Perceptions Are True: Epicurean Responses to Skepticism and Relativism

Abstract

Epicurean epistemology is infamous for the claim that all sense-perceptions are true. This is how Lucretius puts it: what is perceived by any of the senses at any given time is true (De rerum natura 4.499). This claim – which I shall call SPT – seems deeply misguided. It appears obvious that sense-perception can err. The plan for this paper is to show that SPT is a sophisticated philosophical proposal and, what is more, a proposal that aims to capture the truth in relativism.