Philosopher
Sextus Empiricus
fl. 100–250 CE
Pyrrhonian sceptic and doctor whose Outlines of Pyrrhonism is our fullest account of ancient scepticism, which sets argument against argument to reach tranquillity.
Scepticism is an ability to set out oppositions among things which appear and are thought of in any way at all, an ability by which, because of the equipollence in the opposed objects and accounts, we come first to suspension of judgment and afterwards to tranquillity.
We know almost nothing about Sextus Empiricus, not even where or exactly when he lived. Scholars date him between about 100 CE and the middle of the third century, and he may have been well known before 200. His name comes from the Empirical school of medicine, to which he belonged.
His surviving works are the fullest record we have of Pyrrhonian scepticism. The first book of the Outlines of Pyrrhonism sets out what scepticism is, and the rest of his writings turn its methods on the logicians, physicists, ethicists and other “professors” of the learned disciplines. His writings were rediscovered in the Renaissance, when they gave Montaigne and others the arguments of ancient scepticism.
Key ideas
- The sceptic keeps investigating
- Dogmatists think they have found the truth, and Academic sceptics say it cannot be found. The Pyrrhonist does neither, but carries on investigating; skeptikos means “inquirer”.
- Equal and opposing arguments
- Scepticism is a skill: for any argument, finding an opposing one that is just as convincing. Faced with this balance, the sceptic suspends judgement (epochē).
- Tranquillity
- People seek truth hoping to find peace of mind, but it is suspension of judgement that brings it. Tranquillity follows it by chance, as a shadow follows a body.
- The modes
- Sextus sets out standard patterns of sceptical argument, the modes. The Five Modes show that any attempt to justify a claim ends in disagreement, relativity, an infinite regress, an arbitrary assumption or circular reasoning.
- Tradition
- Western
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Schools
- Pyrrhonism
- Period
- Ancient Greek and Roman
Influences
Where these links come from
- Michel de Montaigne drew on Sextus Empiricus. Source: Marc Foglia and Emiliano Ferrari, Michel de Montaigne, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Outlines of Pyrrhonism (Pyrrhoneae hypotyposes)
- Against the Mathematicians (Adversus mathematicos)
Sources
- Benjamin Morison, Sextus Empiricus, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Marc Foglia and Emiliano Ferrari, Michel de Montaigne, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy