Pyrrho and pyrrhonism

Pyrrho (ca. 360 B.C.E. - ca. 270 B.C.E.), a Greek philosopher from Elis, was in antiquity credited as being the first skeptic philosopher and inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century B.C.E.

Life

Diogenes Laertius, quoting from Apollodorus, says that Pyrrho was at first a painter, and that pictures by him were in existence in the gymnasium at Elis. Later he was diverted to philosophy by the works of Democritus, and according to Diogenes Laertius became acquainted with the Megarian dialectic through Bryson, pupil of Stilpo.

Pyrrho, along with Anaxarchus, travelled with Alexander the Great on his exploration of the east, and studied under the Gymnosophists in India and the Magi in Persia. This exposure to Oriental philosophy seems to have inspired him to adopt a life of solitude; returning to Elis, he lived in poor circumstances, but was highly honoured by the Elians and also by the Athenians, who conferred upon him the rights of citizenship.

Pyrrho's doctrines are known today mainly through the satiric writings of his pupil Timon of Phlius (the Sillographer).

Philosophy

The main principle of Pyrrho's thought is expressed by the word acatalepsia, which connotes the impossibility of knowing things in their own nature; against every statement its contradiction may be advanced with equal justification. Secondly, it is necessary in view of this fact to preserve an attitude of intellectual suspense, or, as Timon expressed it, no assertion can be known to be better than another. Thirdly, Pyrrho applied these results to life in general, concluding that, since nothing can be known, the only proper attitude is ataraxia, "freedom from worry".

The proper course of the sage, said Pyrrho, is to ask himself three questions. Firstly we must ask what things are and how they are constituted. Secondly, we ask how we are related to these things. Thirdly, we ask what ought to be our attitude towards them. Pyrrho's answer was that things are indistiguishable, unmeasurable and undecidable and no more this than that, or both this and that and neither this nor that. Therefore, he concluded, our senses neither tell us truths nor lie. We can know nothing of the inner substance of things, only how things appear to us.

The impossibility of knowledge, even in regard to our own ignorance or doubt, should induce the wise man to withdraw into himself, avoiding the stress and emotion which belong to the contest of vain imaginings. This theory of the impossibility of knowledge is the first and the most thorough exposition of agnosticism in the history of thought.^{[citation needed]} Its ethical implications may be compared with the ideal tranquillity of the Stoics and the Epicureans.

An alternate interpretation is that Pyrrho was not a skeptic according to the skeptic's own standards - even though he was considered to be a skeptic in antiquity - but rather a negative dogmatist. Having a view of how things are in the world makes Pyrrho a dogmatist; denying the possibility of knowledge makes his dogma negative.

Pyrrhonism

Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the first century B.C.E. and recorded by Sextus Empiricus in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century CE. It was named after Pyrrho, a philosopher who lived c. 360 to c. 270 B.C.E., although the relationship between the philosophy of the school and of the historical figure is murky. Pyrrhonism became influential during the past few centuries when the modern scientific worldview was born.

"Nothing can be known, not even this." Pyrrhonian skeptics withhold assent with regard to non-evident propositions and remain in a state of perpetual inquiry. For example, Pyrrhonians might assert that a lack of proof cannot constitute disproof, and that a lack of belief is vastly different from a state of active disbelief. Rather than disbelieving in God, psychic powers, etc., based on the lack of evidence of such things, Pyrrhonians recognize that we cannot be certain that new evidence won't turn up in the future, and so they intentionally remain tentative and continue their inquiry. Pyrrhonians also question accepted knowledge, and view dogmatism as a disease of the mind.

A brief period in western history is referred to by philosophers as the Pyrrhonic Crisis, during the birth of modernity. In Feudal society absolute truth was provided by divine authority. However as this fell from legitimacy, there was a brief lag before the enlightenment produced the nation-state and science as the new sources of absolute truth. During this period relativist views similar to those held in Pyrrhonism were popular among thinkers of the time.

Pyrrhonian skepticism is similar to the form skepticism called Zeteticism promoted by Marcello Truzzi.

See also

• Aenesidemus
• Agrippa the Sceptic
• Arcesilaus
• Pyrrho
• Sextus Empiricus
• Timon

References

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• Algra, K., Barnes, J., Mansfeld, J. and Schofield, M. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
• Annas, Julia and Barnes, Jonathan, The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
• Bett, Richard, "Aristocles on Timon on Pyrrho: The Text, Its Logic and its Credibility" Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 12 (1994a), 137-181.
• Bett, Richard, "What did Pyrrho Think about the Nature of the Divine and the Good?" Phronesis 39 (1994b), 303-337.
• Bett, Richard, Pyrrho, his antecedents, and his legacy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
• Brunschwig, Jacques, "Introduction: the beginnings of Hellenistic epistemology" in Algra, Barnes, Mansfeld and Schofield (eds.), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) 229-259.
• Burnyeat, Myles (ed.), The Skeptical Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).
• Burnyeat, Myles and Frede, Michael (eds.), The Original Sceptics: A Controversy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997).
• Hankinson, R.J., The Sceptics (London: Routledge, 1995).
• Long, A.A., Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics (University of California Press, 1986).
• Long, A.A. and Sedley, David, The Hellenistic Philosophers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
• Striker, Gisela, "On the the difference between the Pyrrhonists and the Academics" in G. Striker, Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996): 135-149.
• Striker, Gisela, "Sceptical strategies" in G. Striker, Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996): 92-115.
• Striker, Gisela, "The Ten Tropes of Aenesidemus" in G. Striker, Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996): 116-134.
• Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho’s dogmatic nature," The Classical Quarterly 52 (2002), 248-56.
• Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho’s undecidable nature," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 27 (2004), 249-295.

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• On Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
  • "Ancient Skepticism"
  • "Arcesilaus"
  • "Carneades"
  • "Pyrrho"
• On the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
  • "Aenesidemus"
  • "Ancient Greek Skepticism"
  • "Arcesilaus"
  • "Carneades"
  • "Pyrrho"

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