Suspending judgment › Trying the Questions Without Overstating the Result

Return to the two explanations of project failure. Before choosing a side, ask whether the disagreement concerns the same claim, what evidence each side accepts, and whether its reasons depend on what is disputed. You might find an answer that changes the balance. You might instead identify what further observation is needed. These are possible outcomes of examination, not guarantees that every dispute ends in suspension.

For a personal example, imagine receiving an abrupt message and taking it as evidence of hostility. Reconsidering the circumstances could expose a gap between how the message strikes you and a settled claim about its sender's intention. The exercise might alter the judgment; it might leave you uncertain. It gives no assurance of emotional relief, and it does not establish that harmful conduct should be ignored.

Sextus asks a harder question than whether occasional open-mindedness is useful. Can the sustained distinction between appearances and dogmatic assent support inquiry and life? His answers deserve to be tested through the modes, the practical criterion, and the limits he places on tranquility. Continuing to investigate is compatible with acknowledging that the present exchange has failed to settle its question. Calling the result a cure for certainty would settle too quickly what his account leaves for continuing investigation.