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63-753: The primary source for Timon's biography is the account in Diogenes Laërtius , which claims to be taken from earlier authors such as Apollonides of Nicaea , Antigonus of Carystus , and Sotion , whose works have now been lost. According to Diogenes, Timon was born in Phlius , and was at first a dancer in the theatre, but he abandoned this profession for the study of philosophy, and, having moved to Megara , he spent some time with Stilpo , returned home to marry, and then moved to Elis with his wife, and heard Pyrrho , whose tenets he adopted. Driven again from Elis by straitened circumstances, he spent some time on

126-531: A dozen. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) criticized Diogenes Laërtius for his lack of philosophical talent and categorized his work as nothing more than a compilation of previous writers' opinions. Nonetheless, he admitted that Diogenes Laërtius's compilation was an important one given the information that it contained. Hermann Usener (1834–1905) deplored Diogenes Laërtius as a "complete ass" ( asinus germanus ) in his Epicurea (1887). Werner Jaeger (1888–1961) damned him as "that great ignoramus". In

189-528: A hypothesis that Laertius refers to his origin). A disputed passage in his writings has been used to suggest that it was Nicaea in Bithynia . It has been suggested that Diogenes was an Epicurean or a Pyrrhonist . He passionately defends Epicurus in Book 10, which is of high quality and contains three long letters attributed to Epicurus explaining Epicurean doctrines. He is impartial to all schools, in

252-422: A hypothesis. In common usage in the 21st century, a hypothesis refers to a provisional idea whose merit requires evaluation. For proper evaluation, the framer of a hypothesis needs to define specifics in operational terms. A hypothesis requires more work by the researcher in order to either confirm or disprove it. In due course, a confirmed hypothesis may become part of a theory or occasionally may grow to become

315-461: A method used by mathematicians, that of "investigating from a hypothesis". In this sense, 'hypothesis' refers to a clever idea or to a convenient mathematical approach that simplifies cumbersome calculations . Cardinal Bellarmine gave a famous example of this usage in the warning issued to Galileo in the early 17th century: that he must not treat the motion of the Earth as a reality, but merely as

378-557: A number of important statistical tests which are used to test the hypotheses. Mount Hypothesis in Antarctica is named in appreciation of the role of hypothesis in scientific research. Several hypotheses have been put forth, in different subject areas: hypothesis [...]— Working hypothesis , a hypothesis suggested or supported in some measure by features of observed facts, from which consequences may be deduced which can be tested by experiment and special observations, and which it

441-460: A particular characteristic. In entrepreneurial setting, a hypothesis is used to formulate provisional ideas about the attributes of products or business models. The formulated hypothesis is then evaluated, where the hypothesis is proven to be either "true" or "false" through a verifiability - or falsifiability -oriented experiment . Any useful hypothesis will enable predictions by reasoning (including deductive reasoning ). It might predict

504-438: A problem is commonly referred to as a hypothesis—or, often, as an " educated guess " —because it provides a suggested outcome based on the evidence. However, some scientists reject the term "educated guess" as incorrect. Experimenters may test and reject several hypotheses before solving the problem. According to Schick and Vaughn, researchers weighing up alternative hypotheses may take into consideration: A working hypothesis

567-467: A synthesis. Concepts in Hempel's deductive-nomological model play a key role in the development and testing of hypotheses. Most formal hypotheses connect concepts by specifying the expected relationships between propositions . When a set of hypotheses are grouped together, they become a type of conceptual framework . When a conceptual framework is complex and incorporates causality or explanation, it

630-402: A theory itself. Normally, scientific hypotheses have the form of a mathematical model . Sometimes, but not always, one can also formulate them as existential statements , stating that some particular instance of the phenomenon under examination has some characteristic and causal explanations, which have the general form of universal statements , stating that every instance of the phenomenon has

693-450: A useful guide to address problems that are still in a formative phase. In recent years, philosophers of science have tried to integrate the various approaches to evaluating hypotheses, and the scientific method in general, to form a more complete system that integrates the individual concerns of each approach. Notably, Imre Lakatos and Paul Feyerabend , Karl Popper's colleague and student, respectively, have produced novel attempts at such

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756-750: A will to objectivity and fact-checking, Diogenes's works are today seen as generally unreliable from a historical perspective. He is neither consistent nor reliable in some of his reports and some of the details he cites contain obvious errors. Some of them were probably introduced by copyists in the transmission of the text from antiquity, but some errors are undoubtedly due to Diogenes himself. The reliability of Diogenes' sources have also been questioned, since he uses comic poets as sources. Professor Brian Gregor suggests that readers will benefit from modern scholarly assistance while reading Diogenes' biographies, since they are "notoriously unreliable". Some scholars (e.g. Delfim Leão) state that Diogenes' unreliability

819-830: Is Against the Physicists , in which he questioned the legitimacy of making hypotheses . The longest surviving quote, preserved by Eusebius in Praeparatio evangelica quoting Aristocles is from his work Python ( Greek : Πύθων ), which contained a long account of a conversation with Pyrrho, during a journey to the Delphic oracle .: 'The things themselves are equally indifferent, and unstable, and indeterminate, and therefore neither our senses nor our opinions are either true or false. For this reason then we must not trust them, but be without opinions, and without bias, and without wavering, saying of every single thing that it no more

882-566: Is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted as a basis for further research in the hope that a tenable theory will be produced, even if the hypothesis ultimately fails. Like all hypotheses, a working hypothesis is constructed as a statement of expectations, which can be linked to the exploratory research purpose in empirical investigation. Working hypotheses are often used as a conceptual framework in qualitative research. The provisional nature of working hypotheses makes them useful as an organizing device in applied research. Here they act like

945-586: Is a less competent thinker than those on whom he writes, is less liable to re-formulate statements and arguments, and especially in the case of Epicurus, less liable to interfere with the texts he quotes. He does, however, simplify." Despite his importance to the history of western philosophy and the controversy surrounding him, according to Gian Mario Cao, Diogenes Laërtius has still not received adequate philological attention. Both modern critical editions of his book, by H. S. Long (1964) and by M. Marcovich (1999) have received extensive criticism from scholars. He

1008-474: Is addressed to a woman who was "an enthusiastic Platonist". Hence he is assumed to have flourished in the first half of the 3rd century, during the reign of Alexander Severus (222–235) and his successors. The precise form of his name is uncertain. The ancient manuscripts invariably refer to a "Laertius Diogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater and the Suda . The modern form "Diogenes Laertius"

1071-431: Is criticized primarily for being overly concerned with superficial details of the philosophers' lives and lacking the intellectual capacity to explore their actual philosophical works with any penetration. However, according to statements of the 14th-century monk Walter Burley in his De vita et moribus philosophorum , the text of Diogenes seems to have been much fuller than that which we now possess. Although Diogenes had

1134-557: Is dated to the 13th century, and is in the Laurentian Library . The titles for the individual biographies used in modern editions are absent from these earliest manuscripts, however they can be found inserted into the blank spaces and margins of manuscript P by a later hand. There seem to have been some early Latin translations, but they no longer survive. A 10th-century work entitled Tractatus de dictis philosophorum shows some knowledge of Diogenes. Henry Aristippus , in

1197-628: Is devoted to Epicurus, and contains three long letters written by Epicurus, which explain Epicurean doctrines. His chief authorities were Favorinus and Diocles of Magnesia , but his work also draws (either directly or indirectly) on books by Antisthenes of Rhodes , Alexander Polyhistor , and Demetrius of Magnesia , as well as works by Hippobotus , Aristippus , Panaetius , Apollodorus of Athens , Sosicrates , Satyrus , Sotion , Neanthes , Hermippus , Antigonus , Heraclides , Hieronymus , and Pamphila . There are many extant manuscripts of

1260-559: Is evident that they were admirable productions of their kind. Commentaries were written on the Silloi by Apollonides of Nicaea , and also by Sotion of Alexandria . The poem entitled Images ( Greek : Ἰνδαλμοι ) in elegiac verse, appears to have been similar in its subject to the Silloi . Diogenes Laërtius also mentions Timon's iamboi , but perhaps the word is here merely used in the sense of satirical poems in general, without reference to

1323-457: Is generally referred to as a theory. According to noted philosopher of science Carl Gustav Hempel , Hempel provides a useful metaphor that describes the relationship between a conceptual framework and the framework as it is observed and perhaps tested (interpreted framework). "The whole system floats, as it were, above the plane of observation and is anchored to it by rules of interpretation. These might be viewed as strings which are not part of

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1386-462: Is incomplete and breaks off during the life of Chrysippus . From a table of contents in one of the manuscripts (manuscript P), this book is known to have continued with Zeno of Tarsus , Diogenes , Apollodorus , Boethus , Mnesarchus , Mnasagoras , Nestor , Basilides , Dardanus , Antipater , Heraclides , Sosigenes , Panaetius , Hecato , Posidonius , Athenodorus , another Athenodorus , Antipater , Arius , and Cornutus . The whole of Book X

1449-648: Is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium, and in a lemma to the Greek Anthology . He is also referred to as "Laertes" or simply "Diogenes". The origin of the name "Laertius" is also uncertain. Stephanus of Byzantium refers to him as "Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς" ( Diogenes ho Laertieus ), implying that he was the native of some town, perhaps the Laerte in Caria (or another Laerte in Cilicia ). Another suggestion

1512-424: Is not entirely his responsibility and blame his sources instead. Attribution: Hypotheses A hypothesis ( pl. : hypotheses ) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon . For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis , the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with

1575-560: Is said to have assisted in the composition of their tragedies; and Aratus , whom he is said to have taught. He died at an age of almost ninety. According to Diogenes Laërtius, Timon composed "lyric and epic poems, and tragedies and satiric dramas, and thirty comedies, and sixty tragedies and the Silloi and amatory poems." The Silloi has not survived intact, but they are mentioned and quoted by several ancient authors. It has been suggested that Pyrrhonism ultimately originated with Timon rather than Pyrrho. The most celebrated of his poems were

1638-572: Is than is not, or both is and is not, or neither is nor is not. The surviving fragments of Timon's work are published in Diels, Hermann (1901). Poetarum philosophorum fragmenta (in Latin and Ancient Greek). Diogenes La%C3%ABrtius Diogenes Laërtius ( / d aɪ ˌ ɒ dʒ ɪ n iː z l eɪ ˈ ɜːr ʃ i ə s / dy- OJ -in-eez lay- UR -shee-əs ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Διογένης Λαέρτιος , Laertios ; fl.  3rd century AD )

1701-560: Is that one of his ancestors had for a patron a member of the Roman family of the Laërtii . The prevailing modern theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the Homeric epithet Diogenes Laertiade , used in addressing Odysseus ) used to distinguish him from the many other people called Diogenes in the ancient world. His home town is unknown (at best uncertain, even according to

1764-546: The Hellespont and the Propontis , and taught at Chalcedon as a sophist with such success that he made a fortune. He then moved to Athens , where he lived until his death, with the exception of a short residence at Thebes . According to Diogenes he knew the kings Antigonus and Ptolemy II Philadelphus . The Suda also claims he was linked to several literary figures such as: Alexander Aetolus and Homerus , whom he

1827-623: The Lives , although none of them are especially old, and they all descend from a common ancestor, because they all lack the end of Book VII. The three most useful manuscripts are known as B, P, and F. Manuscript B ( Codex Borbonicus ) dates from the 12th century, and is in the National Library of Naples . Manuscript P ( Paris ) is dated to the 11th/12th century, and is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France . Manuscript F ( Florence )

1890-627: The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in Book 2 of his Libri della famiglia and modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's Life of Thales . Diogenes Laërtius's work has had a complicated reception in modern times. The value of his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers as an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages led the French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) to exclaim that he wished that, instead of one Laërtius, there had been

1953-415: The Lives, Diogenes refers to another work that he had written in verse on famous men, in various metres, which he called Epigrammata or Pammetros (Πάμμετρος). The work by which he is known, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων ; Latin : Vitae Philosophorum ), was written in Greek and professes to give an account of

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2016-423: The antecedent of a proposition ; thus in the proposition "If P , then Q ", P denotes the hypothesis (or antecedent); Q can be called a consequent . P is the assumption in a (possibly counterfactual ) What If question. The adjective hypothetical , meaning "having the nature of a hypothesis", or "being assumed to exist as an immediate consequence of a hypothesis", can refer to any of these meanings of

2079-816: The "Ionian school" begin with Anaximander and end with Clitomachus , Theophrastus and Chrysippus ; the "Italian" begins with Pythagoras and ends with Epicurus . The Socratic school , with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the Eleatics and Pyrrhonists are treated under the Italic. He also includes his own poetic verse, albeit pedestrian, about the philosophers he discusses. The work contains incidental remarks on many other philosophers, and there are useful accounts concerning Hegesias , Anniceris , and Theodorus ( Cyrenaics ); Persaeus (Stoic); and Metrodorus and Hermarchus (Epicureans). Book VII

2142-430: The 12th century, is known to have translated at least some of the work into Latin, and in the 14th century an unknown author made use of a Latin translation for his De vita et moribus philosophorum (attributed erroneously to Walter Burley ). The first printed editions were Latin translations. The first, Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt (Romae: Giorgo Lauer, 1472), printed

2205-406: The alternative hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis, as the name suggests, is the alternative to the null hypothesis: it states that there is some kind of relation. The alternative hypothesis may take several forms, depending on the nature of the hypothesized relation; in particular, it can be two-sided (for example: there is some effect, in a yet unknown direction) or one-sided (the direction of

2268-400: The author and Xenophanes, in which Timon proposed questions, to which Xenophanes replied at length. The subject was a sarcastic account of the tenets of all philosophers, living and dead; an unbounded field for scepticism and satire. They were in hexameter verse, and, from the way in which they are mentioned by the ancient writers, as well as from the few fragments of them which have survived, it

2331-421: The available scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and " theory " are often used interchangeably, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory . A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis proposed for further research in a process beginning with an educated guess or thought. A different meaning of the term hypothesis is used in formal logic , to denote

2394-426: The criterion of falsifiability or supplemented it with other criteria, such as verifiability (e.g., verificationism ) or coherence (e.g., confirmation holism ). The scientific method involves experimentation to test the ability of some hypothesis to adequately answer the question under investigation. In contrast, unfettered observation is not as likely to raise unexplained issues or open questions in science, as would

2457-441: The data to be tested are already known, the test is invalid. The above procedure is actually dependent on the number of the participants (units or sample size ) that are included in the study. For instance, to avoid having the sample size be too small to reject a null hypothesis, it is recommended that one specify a sufficient sample size from the beginning. It is advisable to define a small, medium and large effect size for each of

2520-586: The epic form. It appears probable that his Funeral Banquet of Arcesilaus was also a satirical poem in epic verse. He also wrote parodies on Homer , and some lines from a scepticism-themed poem in elegiac verse have been preserved, as well as one or two fragments which cannot be with certainty assigned to any of his poems. He also wrote in prose, to the quantity, according to Diogenes Laërtius, of twenty thousand lines. These works were no doubt on philosophical subjects, and Diogenes mentions On Sensations , On Inquiries , and Towards Wisdom . Also among his lost works

2583-414: The existence of a relation may be assumed. Otherwise, any observed effect may be due to pure chance. In statistical hypothesis testing, two hypotheses are compared. These are called the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis . The null hypothesis is the hypothesis that states that there is no relation between the phenomena whose relation is under investigation, or at least not of the form given by

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2646-403: The format and content of Laertius's work into English, but Stanley compiled his book from a number of classical biographies of philosophers. The first complete English translation was a late 17th-century translation by ten different persons. A better translation was made by Charles Duke Yonge (1853), but although this was more literal, it still contained many inaccuracies. The next translation

2709-417: The formulation of a crucial experiment to test the hypothesis. A thought experiment might also be used to test the hypothesis. In framing a hypothesis, the investigator must not currently know the outcome of a test or that it remains reasonably under continuing investigation. Only in such cases does the experiment, test or study potentially increase the probability of showing the truth of a hypothesis. If

2772-470: The hypothesized relation, positive or negative, is fixed in advance). Conventional significance levels for testing hypotheses (acceptable probabilities of wrongly rejecting a true null hypothesis) are .10, .05, and .01. The significance level for deciding whether the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted must be determined in advance, before the observations are collected or inspected. If these criteria are determined later, when

2835-431: The intended interpretation usually guides the construction of the theoretician". It is, however, "possible and indeed desirable, for the purposes of logical clarification, to separate the two steps conceptually". When a possible correlation or similar relation between phenomena is investigated, such as whether a proposed remedy is effective in treating a disease, the hypothesis that a relation exists cannot be examined

2898-812: The late 1150s, which has since been lost or destroyed. Geremia da Montagnone used this translation as a source for his Compedium moralium notabilium ( c.  1310 ) and an anonymous Italian author used it as a source for work entitled Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum (written c. 1317–1320), which reached international popularity in the Late Middle Ages . The monk Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) produced another Latin translation in Florence between 1424 and 1433, for which far better records have survived. The Italian Renaissance scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) borrowed from Traversari's translation of

2961-425: The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, scholars have managed to partially redeem Diogenes Laertius's reputation as a writer by reading his book in a Hellenistic literary context. Nonetheless, modern scholars treat Diogenes's testimonia with caution, especially when he fails to cite his sources. Herbert S. Long warns: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because

3024-514: The lives and opinions of the Greek philosophers. Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages, led Montaigne to write that he wished that instead of one Laërtius there had been a dozen. On the other hand, modern scholars have advised that we treat Diogenes' testimonia with care, especially when he fails to cite his sources: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because

3087-523: The loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy". Diogenes divides his subjects into two "schools" which he describes as the Ionian/Ionic and the Italian/Italic; the division is somewhat dubious and appears to be drawn from the lost doxography of Sotion . The biographies of

3150-565: The loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy." Robert M. Strozier offers a somewhat more positive assessment of Diogenes Laertius's reliability, noting that many other ancient writers attempt to reinterpret and expand on the philosophical teachings they describe, something which Diogenes Laërtius rarely does. Strozier concludes, "Diogenes Laertius is, when he does not conflate hundreds of years of distinctions, reliable simply because he

3213-490: The manner of the Pyrrhonists, and he carries the succession of Pyrrhonism further than that of the other schools. At one point, he even seems to refer to the Pyrrhonists as "our school." On the other hand, most of these points can be explained by the way he uncritically copies from his sources. It is by no means certain that he adhered to any school, and he is usually more attentive to biographical details. In addition to

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3276-417: The metre. According to Timon, philosophers are "excessively cunning murderers of many wise saws" (v. 96); the only two whom he spares are Xenophanes, "the modest censor of Homer's lies" (v. 29), and Pyrrho, against whom "no other mortal dare contend" (v. 126). No remains of his dramas have survived. Of his epic poems little is known, but it may be presumed that they were chiefly ludicrous or satirical poems in

3339-425: The network but link certain points of the latter with specific places in the plane of observation. By virtue of those interpretative connections, the network can function as a scientific theory." Hypotheses with concepts anchored in the plane of observation are ready to be tested. In "actual scientific practice the process of framing a theoretical structure and of interpreting it are not always sharply separated, since

3402-440: The outcome of an experiment in a laboratory setting or the observation of a phenomenon in nature . The prediction may also invoke statistics and only talk about probabilities. Karl Popper , following others, has argued that a hypothesis must be falsifiable , and that one cannot regard a proposition or theory as scientific if it does not admit the possibility of being shown to be false. Other philosophers of science have rejected

3465-407: The primary sources. Due to the loss of so many of the primary sources on which Diogenes relied, his work has become the foremost surviving source on the history of Greek philosophy. Laërtius must have lived after Sextus Empiricus (c. 200), whom he mentions, and before Stephanus of Byzantium and Sopater of Apamea (c. 500), who quote him. His work makes no mention of Neoplatonism , even though it

3528-410: The researcher already knows the outcome, it counts as a "consequence" — and the researcher should have already considered this while formulating the hypothesis. If one cannot assess the predictions by observation or by experience , the hypothesis needs to be tested by others providing observations. For example, a new technology or theory might make the necessary experiments feasible. A trial solution to

3591-406: The same way one might examine a proposed new law of nature. In such an investigation, if the tested remedy shows no effect in a few cases, these do not necessarily falsify the hypothesis. Instead, statistical tests are used to determine how likely it is that the overall effect would be observed if the hypothesized relation does not exist. If that likelihood is sufficiently small (e.g., less than 1%),

3654-414: The satiric compositions called Silloi , a word of somewhat uncertain etymology, but which undoubtedly describes metrical compositions, of a character at once ludicrous and sarcastic. The invention of this species of poetry is ascribed to Xenophanes of Colophon . The Silloi of Timon were in three books, in the first of which he spoke in his own person, and the other two are in the form of a dialogue between

3717-576: The ten books into paragraphs of equal length, and progressively numbered them, providing the system still in use today. The first critical edition of the entire text, by H.S. Long in the Oxford Classical Texts , was not produced until 1964; this edition was superseded by Miroslav Marcovich 's Teubner edition, published between 1999 and 2002. A new edition, by Tiziano Dorandi , was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. Thomas Stanley's 1656 History of Philosophy adapts

3780-428: The term "hypothesis". In its ancient usage, hypothesis referred to a summary of the plot of a classical drama . The English word hypothesis comes from the ancient Greek word ὑπόθεσις hypothesis whose literal or etymological sense is "putting or placing under" and hence in extended use has many other meanings including "supposition". In Plato 's Meno (86e–87b), Socrates dissects virtue with

3843-528: The translation of Ambrogio Traversari (whose manuscript presentation copy to Cosimo de' Medici was dated February 8, 1433 ) and was edited by Elio Francesco Marchese. The Greek text of the lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus appeared in the third volume of the Aldine Aristotle in 1497. The first edition of the whole Greek text was that published by Hieronymus Froben in 1533. The Greek/Latin edition of 1692 by Marcus Meibomius divided each of

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3906-884: Was a biographer of the Greek philosophers . Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek philosophy . His reputation is controversial among scholars because he often repeats information from his sources without critically evaluating it. He also frequently focuses on trivial or insignificant details of his subjects' lives while ignoring important details of their philosophical teachings and he sometimes fails to distinguish between earlier and later teachings of specific philosophical schools. However, unlike many other ancient secondary sources, Diogenes Laërtius generally reports philosophical teachings without attempting to reinterpret or expand on them, which means his accounts are often closer to

3969-486: Was by Robert Drew Hicks (1925) for the Loeb Classical Library , although it is slightly bowdlerized . A new translation by Pamela Mensch was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. Another by Stephen White was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. Henricus Aristippus , the archdeacon of Catania , produced a Latin translation of Diogenes Laërtius's book in southern Italy in

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