Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE, and said to have been inspired by the teachings of Pyrrho and Timon of Phlius in the fourth century BCE.
51-591: Pyrrhonism is best known today through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus , writing in the late second century or early third century CE. The publication of Sextus' works in the Renaissance ignited a revival of interest in Skepticism and played a major role in Reformation thought and the development of early modern philosophy . Pyrrhonism is named after Pyrrho of Elis , a Greek philosopher in
102-536: A 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, states that he was the same person as Sextus of Chaeronea , as do other pre-modern sources, but this identification is commonly doubted. In his medical work, as reflected by his name, tradition maintains that he belonged to the Empiric school in which Pyrrhonism was popular. However, at least twice in his writings, Sextus seems to place himself closer to the Methodic school . As
153-578: A direct line of filiation between Sextus' radical skepticism and secular or even radical atheism. Agrippa the Skeptic Agrippa ( Greek : Ἀγρίππας ) was a Pyrrhonist philosopher who probably lived towards the end of the 1st century CE. He is regarded as the author of "The Five Tropes (or Modes, in Greek : τρόποι ) of Agrippa", which are purported to establish the necessity of suspending judgment ( epoché ). Agrippa's arguments form
204-884: A foreign language, and that the key innovative tenets of Pyrrho's skepticism were only found in Indian philosophy at the time and not in Greece. Other similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism include a version of the tetralemma among the Pyrrhonist maxims, and more significantly, the idea of suspension of judgement and how that can lead to peace and liberation, ataraxia in Pyrrhonism and nirvana in Buddhism. Furthermore, Buddhist philosopher Jan Westerhoff says "many of Nāgārjuna's arguments concerning causation bear strong similarities to classical sceptical arguments as presented in
255-481: A single doctrine. Scholars including Barua , Jayatilleke, and Flintoff, contend that Pyrrho was influenced by, or at the very least agreed with, Indian skepticism rather than Buddhism or Jainism, based on the fact that he valued ataraxia , which can be translated as "freedom from worry". Jayatilleke, in particular, contends that Pyrrho may have been influenced by the first three schools of Ajñana, since they too valued freedom from worry. The recovery and publication of
306-483: A skeptic may, for example, accept common opinions in the skeptic's society. The important difference between the skeptic and the dogmatist is that the skeptic does not hold his beliefs as a result of rigorous philosophical investigation. Diogenes Laërtius and the Suda report that Sextus Empiricus wrote ten books on Pyrrhonism. The Suda also says Sextus wrote a book Ethica . Sextus Empiricus's three surviving works are
357-424: A skeptic, Sextus Empiricus raised concerns which applied to all types of knowledge. He doubted the validity of induction long before its best known critic David Hume , and raised the regress argument against all forms of reasoning: Those who claim for themselves to judge the truth are bound to possess a criterion of truth. This criterion, then, either is without a judge's approval or has been approved. But if it
408-450: A suspension of judgement, a mental rest owing to which we neither deny nor affirm anything. Pyrrhonists dispute that the dogmatists – which includes all of Pyrrhonism's rival philosophies – claim to have found truth regarding non-evident matters, and that these opinions about non-evident matters (i.e., dogma ) are what prevent one from attaining eudaimonia . For any of these dogmas, a Pyrrhonist makes arguments for and against such that
459-613: Is Skeptical Treatises' ( Σκεπτικὰ Ὑπομνήματα / Skeptika Hypomnēmata ). An influential Latin translation of Sextus's Outlines was published by Henricus Stephanus in Geneva in 1562, and this was followed by a complete Latin Sextus with Gentian Hervet as translator in 1569. Petrus and Jacobus Chouet published the Greek text for the first time in 1621. Stephanus did not publish it with his Latin translation either in 1562 or in 1569, nor
510-516: Is sometimes distinguished from Adversus Mathematicos VII–XI by using another title, Against the Dogmatists ( Πρὸς δογματικούς , Pros dogmatikous ) and then the remaining books are numbered as I–II, III–IV, and V, despite the fact that it is commonly inferred that what we have is just part of a larger work whose beginning is missing and it is unknown how much of the total work has been lost. The supposed general title of this partially lost work
561-649: Is than is not, or both is and is not, or neither is nor is not. Pyrrhonism is often contrasted with Academic skepticism , a similar but distinct form of Hellenistic philosophical skepticism. While early Academic skepticism was influenced in part by Pyrrho, it grew more and more dogmatic until Aenesidemus broke with the Academics to revive Pyrrhonism in the first century BCE, denouncing the Academy as "Stoics fighting against Stoics." Some later Pyrrhonists, such as Sextus Empiricus , go so far as to claim that Pyrrhonists are
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#1732766244853612-479: Is the formula known in connection with Buddhism as the fourfold negation ( Catuṣkoṭi ) and which in Pyrrhonic form might be called the fourfold indeterminacy. McEvilley also notes a correspondence between the Pyrrhonist and Madhyamaka views about truth, comparing Sextus' account of two criteria regarding truth, one which judges between reality and unreality, and another which we use as a guide in everyday life. By
663-587: Is the mode of relation. These "tropes" or "modes" are given by Sextus Empiricus in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism . According to Sextus, they are attributed only "to the more recent skeptics" and it is by Diogenes Laërtius that we attribute them to Agrippa . The five tropes of Agrippa are: According to the mode deriving from dispute, we find that undecidable dissension about the matter proposed has come about both in ordinary life and among philosophers. Because of this we are not able to choose or to rule out anything, and we end up with suspension of judgement . In
714-428: Is without approval, whence comes it that it is trustworthy? For no matter of dispute is to be trusted without judging. And, if it has been approved, that which approves it, in turn, either has been approved or has not been approved, and so on ad infinitum . This view is known as Pyrrhonian skepticism , which Sextus differentiated from Academic skepticism as practiced by Carneades which, according to Sextus, denies
765-619: The Outlines of Pyrrhonism ( Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτυπώσεις , Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis , thus commonly abbreviated PH ), and two distinct works preserved under the same title, Adversus Mathematicos ( Πρὸς μαθηματικούς , Pros mathematikous , commonly abbreviated "AM" or "M" and known as Against Those in the Disciplines, or Against the Mathematicians ). Adversus Mathematicos is incomplete as the text references parts that are not in
816-551: The 4th century BCE who was credited by the later Pyrrhonists with forming the first comprehensive school of skeptical thought . However, ancient testimony about the philosophical beliefs of the historical Pyrrho is minimal, and often contradictory: his teachings were recorded by his student Timon of Phlius , but those works have been lost, and only survive in fragments quoted by later authors, and based on testimonies of later authors such as Cicero . Pyrrho's own philosophy as recorded by Timon may have been much more dogmatic than that of
867-500: The Apostate mentions that Pyrrhonism had died out at the time of his writings, other writers mention the existence of later Pyrrhonists. Pseudo-Clement, writing around the same time ( c. 300 -320 CE) mentions Pyrrhonists in his Homilies and Agathias even reports a Pyrrhonist named Uranius as late as the middle of the 6th century CE. According to Diogenes Laërtius, Pyrrho was said to have traveled to India with Alexander
918-570: The Buddhist one though favored by Plato and Pythagoras, was totally alien to the Pyrrhonists. The ἀταραξία, 'undisturbedness', that the Pyrrhonists promised their followers, may have a superficial resemblance to the Buddhist nirvana, but ἀταραξία, unlike nirvana, did not involve a liberation from a cycle of reincarnation; rather, it was a mode of life in this world, blessed with μετριοπάθεια, 'moderation of feeling' or 'moderate suffering', not with
969-532: The Great 's army where Pyrrho was said to have studied with the magi and the gymnosophists , and where he may have been influenced by Buddhist teachings, most particularly the three marks of existence . Scholars who argue for such influence mention the fact that even the ancient author Diogenesis Laërtius states as much, when he wrote that Pyrrho “foregathered with the Indian Gymnosophists and with
1020-587: The Magi. This led him to adopt a most noble philosophy." According to Christopher I. Beckwith 's analysis of the Aristocles Passage, adiaphora ( anatta ), astathmēta ( dukkha ), and anepikrita ( anicca ) are strikingly similar to the Buddhist three marks of existence , indicating that Pyrrho's teaching is based on Buddhism. Beckwith contends that the 18 months Pyrrho spent in India were long enough to learn
1071-661: The Middle Ages is reconstructed by Luciano Floridi 's Sextus Empiricus, The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism (Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2002). Since the Renaissance, French philosophy has been continuously influenced by Sextus: Montaigne in the 16th century, Descartes , Blaise Pascal , Pierre-Daniel Huet and François de La Mothe Le Vayer in the 17th century, many of the "Philosophes", and in recent times controversial figures such as Michel Onfray , in
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#17327662448531122-454: The Pyrrhonists assert that not even that seems to be true, since nothing seems to be true." Sextus Empiricus also said that the Pyrrhonist school influenced and had substantial overlap with the Empiric school of medicine, but that Pyrrhonism had more in common with the Methodic school in that it "follow[s] the appearances and take[s] from these whatever seems expedient." Although Julian
1173-406: The absence of any variety of pain. Kuzminski, whom Beckwith hails as a precursor of his, had largely ignored the problem with this disparity between Buddhism and Pyrrhonism. Ajñana , which upheld radical skepticism , may have been a more powerful influence on Pyrrho than Buddhism. The Buddhists referred to Ajñana's adherents as Amarāvikkhepikas or "eel-wrigglers", due to their refusal to commit to
1224-643: The basis of the Agrippan trilemma . Sextus Empiricus described these "modes" or "tropes" in Outlines of Pyrrhonism , attributing them "to the more recent skeptics"; Diogenes Laërtius attributes them to Agrippa. The five modes of Agrippa (also known as the five tropes of Agrippa ) are: According to the mode deriving from dispute, we find that undecidable dissension about the matter proposed has come about both in ordinary life and among philosophers. Because of this we are not able to choose or to rule out anything, and we end up with suspension of judgement . In
1275-423: The beginning of modern philosophy. Montaigne adopted the image of a balance scale for his motto, which became a modern symbol of Pyrrhonism. It has also been suggested that Pyrrhonism provided the skeptical underpinnings that René Descartes drew from in developing his influential method of Cartesian doubt and the associated turn of early modern philosophy towards epistemology . In the 18th century, David Hume
1326-539: The degree of Buddhist influence on Pyrrho. Conversely, while critical of Beckwith's ideas, Kuzminsky sees credibility in the hypothesis that Pyrrho was influenced by Buddhism, even if it cannot be safely ascertained with our current information. While discussing Christopher Beckwith's claims in Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia , Jerker Blomqvist states that: On
1377-648: The first criteria, nothing is either true or false, but by the second, information from the senses may be considered either true or false for practical purposes. As Edward Conze has noted, this is similar to the Madhyamika Two Truths doctrine , a distinction between "Absolute truth" ( paramārthasatya ), "the knowledge of the real as it is without any distortion," and "Truth so-called" ( saṃvṛti satya ), "truth as conventionally believed in common parlance. However, other scholars, such as Stephen Batchelor and Charles Goodman question Beckwith's conclusions about
1428-546: The later school who bore his name. While Pyrrhonism would become the dominant form of skepticism in the early Roman period, in the Hellenistic period , the Platonic Academy was the primary advocate of skepticism until the mid-first century BCE, when Pyrrhonism as a philosophical school was founded by Aenesidemus. The goal of Pyrrhonism is ataraxia , an untroubled and tranquil condition of soul that results from
1479-493: The longest time they all went against the first demands of morality and conscience ?" The term "neo-Pyrrhonism" is used to refer to modern Pyrrhonists such as Benson Mates and Robert Fogelin . Sextus Empiricus Sextus Empiricus ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός , Sextos Empeirikos ; fl. mid-late 2nd century AD ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician with Roman citizenship . His philosophical works are
1530-480: The matter cannot be concluded, thus suspending judgement , and thereby inducing ataraxia. Pyrrhonists can be subdivided into those who are ephectic (engaged in suspension of judgment), aporetic (engaged in refutation) or zetetic (engaged in seeking). An ephectic merely suspends judgment on a matter, "balancing perceptions and thoughts against one another." It is a less aggressive form of skepticism, in that sometimes "suspension of judgment evidently just happens to
1581-432: The mode deriving from infinite regress, we say that what is brought forward as a source of conviction for the matter proposed itself needs another such source, which itself needs another, and so ad infinitum , so that we have no point from which to begin to establish anything, and suspension of judgement follows. In the mode deriving from relativity, as we said above, the existing object appears to be such-and-such relative to
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1632-432: The mode deriving from infinite regress, we say that what is brought forward as a source of conviction for the matter proposed itself needs another such source, which itself needs another, and so ad infinitum , so that we have no point from which to begin to establish anything, and suspension of judgement follows. In the mode deriving from relativity, as we said above, the existing object appears to be such-and-such relative to
1683-461: The most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism , and because of the arguments they contain against the other Hellenistic philosophies , they are also a major source of information about those philosophies. Little is known about Sextus Empiricus. He likely lived in Alexandria , Rome , or Athens . His Roman name, Sextus , implies he was a Roman citizen. The Suda ,
1734-490: The most radical and most precise formulation of skepticism that has ever been given. In a sense, they are still irresistible today." Pyrrhonist decision making is made according to what the Pyrrhonists describe as the criteria of action holding to the appearances , without beliefs in accord with the ordinary regimen of life based on: The Pyrrhonists devised several sayings (Greek ΦΩΝΩΝ) to help practitioners bring their minds to suspend judgment. Among these are: Except for
1785-470: The object under investigation; then, being unable to take either in order to establish the other, we suspend judgement about both. The first and third tropes summarize the earlier Ten Modes of Aenesidemus . The three additional ones show a progress in the Pyrrhonist system, building upon the objections derived from the fallibility of sense and opinion to more abstract and metaphysical grounds. According to Victor Brochard "the five tropes can be regarded as
1836-514: The object under investigation; then, being unable to take either in order to establish the other, we suspend judgement about both. With reference to these five tropes, that the first and third are a short summary of the earlier Ten Modes of Aenesidemus . The three additional ones show a progress in the Pyrrhonist system, building upon the objections derived from the fallibility of sense and opinion to more abstract and metaphysical grounds. According to Victor Brochard "the five tropes can be regarded as
1887-518: The only real skeptics, dividing all philosophy into the dogmatists, the Academics, and the skeptics. Dogmatists claim to have knowledge, Academic skeptics claim that knowledge is impossible , while Pyrrhonists assent to neither proposition, suspending judgment on both. The second century Roman historian Aulus Gellius describes the distinction as "...the Academics apprehend (in some sense) the very fact that nothing can be apprehended, and they determine (in some sense) that nothing can be determined, whereas
1938-467: The other hand, certain elements that are generally regarded as essential features of Buddhism are entirely absent from ancient Pyrrhonism/scepticism. The concepts of good and bad karma must have been an impossibility in the Pyrrhonist universe, if "things" were ἀδιάφορα, 'without a logical self-identity', and, consequently, could not be differentiated from each other by labels such as 'good' and 'bad' or 'just' and 'unjust'. A doctrine of rebirth, reminiscent of
1989-405: The possibility of knowledge altogether, something that Sextus criticized as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief; in other words, suspending judgment ( epoché ) about whether or not anything is knowable. Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of ataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind'). There is some debate as to the extent to which Sextus advocated
2040-461: The sceptic". An aporetic skeptic, in contrast, works more actively towards their goal, engaging in the refutation of arguments in favor of various possible beliefs in order to reach aporia , an impasse, or state of perplexity, which leads to suspension of judgement. Finally, the zetetic claims to be continually searching for the truth but to have thus far been unable to find it, and thus continues to suspend belief while also searching for reason to cease
2091-459: The subject judging and to the things observed together with it, but we suspend judgement on what it is like in its nature. We have the mode from hypothesis when the Dogmatists, being thrown back ad infinitum , begin from something which they do not establish but claim to assume simply and without proof in virtue of a concession. The reciprocal mode occurs when what ought to be confirmatory of the object under investigation needs to be made convincing by
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2142-459: The subject judging and to the things observed together with it, but we suspend judgement on what it is like in its nature. We have the mode from hypothesis when the Dogmatists, being thrown back ad infinitum , begin from something which they do not establish but claim to assume simply and without proof in virtue of a concession. The reciprocal mode occurs when what ought to be confirmatory of the object under investigation needs to be made convincing by
2193-470: The surviving text. Adversus Mathematicos also includes mentions of three other works which did not survive: The surviving first six books of Adversus Mathematicos are commonly known as Against the Professors . Each book also has a traditional title; although none of these titles except Pros mathematikous and Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis are found in the manuscripts. Adversus Mathematicos I–VI
2244-420: The suspension of belief. Although Pyrrhonism's objective is ataraxia, it is best known for its epistemological arguments. The core practice is through setting argument against argument. To aid in this, the Pyrrhonist philosophers Aenesidemus and Agrippa developed sets of stock arguments known as "modes" or " tropes ." Aenesidemus is considered the creator of the ten tropes of Aenesidemus (also known as
2295-503: The suspension of judgement. According to Myles Burnyeat , Jonathan Barnes , and Benson Mates , Sextus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs; that is to say, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit. Michael Frede , however, defends a different interpretation, according to which Sextus does allow beliefs, so long as they are not derived by reason, philosophy or speculation;
2346-532: The ten modes of Aenesidemus )—although whether he invented the tropes or just systematized them from prior Pyrrhonist works is unknown. The tropes represent reasons for suspension of judgment. These are as follows: According to Sextus, superordinate to these ten modes stand three other modes: that based on the subject who judges (modes 1, 2, 3 & 4), that based on the object judged (modes 7 & 10), that based on both subject who judges and object judged (modes 5, 6, 8 & 9), and superordinate to these three modes
2397-457: The third book of Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism ," and Thomas McEvilley suspects that Nagarjuna may have been influenced by Greek Pyrrhonist texts imported into India. McEvilley argues for mutual iteration in the Buddhist logico-epistemological traditions between Pyrrhonism and Madhyamika : An extraordinary similarity, that has long been noticed, between Pyrrhonism and Mādhyamika
2448-675: The works of Sextus Empiricus , the texts of ancient Pyrrhonism have been lost. There is a summary of the Pyrrhonian Discourses by Aenesidemus , preserved by Photius , and a brief summary of Pyrrho's teaching by Aristocles , quoting Pyrrho's student Timon preserved by Eusebius : '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
2499-652: The works of Sextus Empiricus, particularly a widely influential translation by Henri Estienne published in 1562, ignited a revival of interest in Pyrrhonism . Philosophers of the time used his works to source their arguments on how to deal with the religious issues of their day. Major philosophers such as Michel de Montaigne , Marin Mersenne , and Pierre Gassendi later drew on the model of Pyrrhonism outlined in Sextus Empiricus' works for their own arguments. This resurgence of Pyrrhonism has sometimes been called
2550-617: Was also considerably influenced by Pyrrhonism, using "Pyrrhonism" as a synonym for "skepticism.". Friedrich Nietzsche , however, criticized the "ephectics" of the Pyrrhonists as a flaw of early philosophers, whom he characterized as "shy little blunderer[s] and milquetoast[s] with crooked legs" prone to overindulging "his doubting drive, his negating drive, his wait-and-see ('ephectic') drive, his analytical drive, his exploring, searching, venturing drive, his comparing, balancing drive, his will to neutrality and objectivity , his will to every sine ira et studio : have we already grasped that for
2601-679: Was it published in the reprint of the latter in 1619. Sextus's Outlines were widely read in Europe during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and had a profound effect on Michel de Montaigne , David Hume and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , among many others. Another source for the circulation of Sextus's ideas was Pierre Bayle 's Dictionary . The legacy of Pyrrhonism is described in Richard Popkin 's The History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes and High Road to Pyrrhonism . The transmission of Sextus's manuscripts through antiquity and
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