Pyrrhon of Elis

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Pyrrhon in a stormy sea , by the Petrarca master , 16th century

Pyrrho ( ancient Greek Πύρρων Pyrrhon * to 362 BC.. In Elis ; † to 270 .. -275 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher . He was the founder of the older skeptical school .

The "Pyrrhonic skepticism" named after him, one of the two main directions of ancient skepticism , has been called Pyrrhonism since Montaigne and Pascal . The teaching was alive until at least the end of the 2nd century AD; the younger, "academic skepticism" that emerged in the 3rd century BC. BC by Arkesilaos in the Platonic Academy and was continued by Karneades , turned out to be less durable.

In ethics, Pyrrhon takes the side of the rigorous older Stoics , who only recognize virtue itself as good. In modern times , Pyrrhon's name is often used as a symbol for doubt (Greek skepticism ). A number of anecdotes have come down to us, particularly through Diogenes Laertius , which seek to illustrate Pyrrhon's way of thinking. There is also a very detailed biography of Pyrrhons by Diogenes Laertius.

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From most of the works of the ancient skeptics only fragments in the form of quotations, summaries or paraphrases have been preserved by other authors. Pyrrhon himself left no written record of his own. His teachings were recorded in the - lost - writings of his disciples, chiefly Timon von Phleius .

The most important source for his life data is the doxograph Diogenes Laertius (Book IX, 61-108, About Pyrrhon ), whose work probably dates from the first half of the third century AD and in which he partly refers to Diocles . Diogenes Laertius also passed on details from the life of Pyrrhons, for which he went back to the biographical collection of Antigonus of Karystos , who in turn quotes other Hellenistic authors such as Apollodor of Athens , Diocles of Magnesia , Nausiphanes of Teos, Pilon of Athens and Timon of Phleius . The truth of most of the information cannot be verified, however, as the statements of Diogenes Laertius are unproven.

From the skeptic Sextus Empiricus there are three basic writings that summarize the doctrine of the Pyrrhon, are based on a rich skeptical literature and under the original title Πυρρωνείαι ὑποτυπώσεις ( pyrrhoneíai hypotypôseis ), translated roughly include : Basic features of the pyrrhonic books.

Pyrrhon was also a term used by Cicero , who confessed to a variant of skepticism and whose philosophical writings, such as his Academic Treatises , are important sources for Pyrrhon's teaching. In his writing Tusculanae disputationes he explicitly mentions Pyrrhon in connection with the discussion of good and bad.

The chronicle of the Socrates disciple Apollodorus also contains information about Pyrrhon.

Life

Pyrrhon came from Elis in the northwestern Peloponnese in the Ionian Sea . Diogenes Laertius writes that he was the son of Pleistarchus, which Diocles had already reported. According to the Chronicle of Apollodorus , he was initially a poor and unknown painter. He painted torchbearers in Elis' grammar school and exhibited these poor quality pictures in the gym. He had a sister named Philista, who was a midwife and to whom he was very considerate, “because he even carried out small birds and pigs for sale after the market, as he did the whole business of cleaning the house without distinction otherwise he withdrew from socializing and sought solitude, “so that the housemates rarely saw him”.

Through Bryson of Herakleia , a pupil of Stilpon's , Pyrrhon became aware of the work of Democritus and philosophy. He is said to have valued Democritus and his ethical ideals of inner harmony. "As Alexandros in the lineages" saying that he was sure the Anaxarchos of Abdera followed, had with him in the campaigns of Alexander the Great competition and be with the "up to the gymnosophists traveled" to India, where he met ascetics and magicians met be. Alexander's Asian campaigns began in 334 BC. BC, who was around 327 BC. Until India advanced.

He is said to have written a poem on Alexander the Great and received 1,000 gold pieces for it. Diogenes Laertius praises Pyrrhon's unpretentiousness and contentment, but also his inner undisputedness and the self-confidence with which he approached Alexander the Great. Although he was easily excitable himself in his youth, nothing later could upset him; even if someone went away in the middle of a discussion, he was unwavering to finish his speech.

The trip to India, the study of Eastern philosophy and the experience of body control and the rigor of the exercises of the gymnosophists and ascetics may have inspired him to say goodbye to his previous way of life. He then returned to Elis, where he founded a school and "lived there, poor and calm, into old age". Pyrrhon is said to have enjoyed a high reputation among the population - including the Athenians , who would have given him citizenship . He was elected high priest and, for his sake, all philosophers were granted tax exemption. Many citizens emulated his reluctance to engage in public activity.

Antigonos of Karystos reports that Pyrrhon lived consistently in everyday life with no judgment . He said he did not avoid anything and knew no caution. Everything was indifferent to him, he did not allow perception to influence his behavior. He often went on trips without any preliminary planning; he only owed his survival to his students who accompanied him; he refused to avoid oncoming cars, steep slopes or vicious dogs. When Anaxarchos once fell into a swamp, he went on unswervingly on his way without helping him - a behavior that brought him many reproaches, but which Anaxarchos expressly praised. Diogenes, however, allows a different tradition to follow this account: Ainesidemos has shown that Pyrrhon taught abstention from judgment in his philosophy, but did not act carelessly himself. Once when he was surprised by the way he was talking to himself and asked about the cause, he replied that he was working hard to become sociable. Pyrrhon also once climbed a tree, followed by a dog. When those present laughed at him, he said it was "difficult to put people off".

One of the many anecdotes that Diogenes Laertius has compiled about Pyrrhon tells of a crossing of Pyrrhons in the Ionian Sea during a strong storm. The ship's crew was scared to death. Pyrrhon himself remained very calm and pointed out an unimpressed piggy, who continued to eat, with the words that this imperturbability and calmness of mind was a pattern for the behavior of wise men. This anecdote has been received and commented on in a variety of ways, for example by Hegel with the short, concise suffix that it, namely this behavior, does not have to be piggy, but born of reason. Michel de Montaigne , whose skepticism is explicitly based on “pyrrhonic thinking”, has also taken up this anecdote and questions Hegel's meaning. With him, the pig doesn't just keep eating, but looks calmly and fearlessly towards the storm. For him, the anecdote is an example of the fact that knowledge is less able to counteract evil than natural habits. In contrast to Hegel, he takes the view that we fail ourselves if we understand ourselves as rational beings.

It seemed to Diogenes Laertius that Pyrrhon had chosen the best path from a philosophical point of view by - as Askanios said of Abdera - "establishing the standpoint of the incomprehensibility of things and the restraint of judgment."

While his participation in the Alexanderzug is viewed as historical, individual - alleged or actual - experiences of Pyrrhon were probably narrated. The news, which goes back to Diocles of Magnesia, however, that Pyrrhon murdered the Odrysian king Kotys and was therefore honored with citizenship by the Athenians, is definitely due to a confusion with Python of Ainos . The statements that the inhabitants of Elis had chosen Pyrrhon to be Archiereus and granted all philosophers tax exemption probably go back to Neusiphanes von Teos, a pupil of Pyrrhon and teacher of Epicurus. Yet another source testifies to Pyrrhon's respected position in Elis: Perieget Pausanias writes that there is a statue on the Agora of Elis and the tomb of the philosopher Pyrrhon in nearby Petra. Haake attests to this information a high degree of credibility, "because the periegete does not fit the intention of philosopher-biographers (sic!) To let their heroes appear in a special light." It can therefore be assumed that Pyrrhon held a respected position in Elis which manifests itself in a high cultic function.

Pyrrhon appears as a kind of joke in the dialogue satire The Twice Accused , written by Lucian of Samosata around 165 AD , in which the father of the gods Zeus tries to settle the rights of the earthly, including a legal dispute that the painting had brought against Pyrrhon. But Pyrrhon, the skeptic, does not even appear in court, since he is convinced that there cannot be a true judgment.

The inscription of a bronze inscription from Olympia dated to the 4th century , in which a damiorgos phyrrhon was mentioned, contains an amnesty law. Therefore, the identification of the damiorgos (Greek senior official, possibly arbitrator) with the philosopher of the same name made by Szanto (1898, pp. 198 f. And 211 f.) Has been rejected again.

Teaching

Pyrrhon's teaching was called "Pyrrhonian skepticism" or Pyrrhonism , his followers "Pyrrhonians".

Skepticism about the sense organs was nothing new in Greek philosophy . If Parmenides and Plato denied the cognitive value of perceptions and if sophists like Protagoras had come to a subjectivism through the vagueness and the obvious contradictions of the sense perceptions , then Pyrrhon extended these insights to morality and logic and placed doubt (Greek skepticism ) at the center of his Thinking.

Pyrrhon did not develop a philosophical system that explains the world, but he called for a critical attitude of thought, i.e. skepticism and, according to Timon, described philosophy with the three questions determined by the goal of eudaemonia :

  1. What is the nature of things?
  2. How should we behave appropriately to them?
  3. What do we get from this behavior?

While the dogmatist chooses the best doctrine as the only correct one, Pyrrhon's doctrine assumes that there is no knowledge of things, which is why abstention from judgment is the appropriate behavior. According to this, especially in the area of ​​ethics, everything that people do is not per se honorable or mean, just or unjust, but only according to the (respective) convention and custom. Therefore it is the task of the philosopher to abstain from judgment in these and other things.

Pyrrhon and his followers founded a philosophical school that could not imagine thinking without skepticism, that is, without doubts and reservations of all kinds. They raised doubts to the principle of thought and thus questioned the possibility of being able to come to a “safe” knowledge of the world in any way. Indifference is the key concept of Pyrrhonism, both morally and from the standpoint of knowledge.

These convictions correspond to the teaching of the Democritus student Anaxarchus, Metrodorus von Chios , who began his work On Nature with the words: "We know nothing, not even this, whether we know something or know nothing."

Pyrrhonic skepticism

Pyrrhon's teaching was mainly recorded, continued and further developed by his pupil, the sill poet Timon von Phleius. According to him, Pyrrhon taught that things are equally indifferent, unstable, and not assessable, and therefore neither our perceptions nor our opinions can say anything true or false about them. For this reason one should not trust opinions, but say free of them, inflexible and unshakable of anything that is nothing more than is not. In bitter mocking poems Timon attacked all dogmatic schools: No truth arises from the interaction of deceptive senses and deceptive understanding.

In the history of philosophy, Pyrrhon stands for the most radical form of skepticism. Pyrrhon owed its effect largely to the way in which he is said to have embodied his philosophy in his way of life and thus impressed students and opponents (e.g. Epicurus ). It is significant that in the later depiction of the Pyrrhonic skepticism of Sextus Empiricus this element is missing, that is, the way of life becomes an everyday one.

Aulus Gellius is the earliest author to testify (Aulus Gellius: Noct. Att. XI, 5, 6) that Pyrrhonic philosophers were called "skeptikoi" and who observed that the term was also used for academics .

Pyrrhon became the founder of skepticism or philosophical skepticism through the view he defended that the truth content of neither our sensory perceptions nor our judgments can be clearly established. From this it follows for Pyrrhon that the wise man must abstain from any judgment (the so-called epoché ). The ethical goal of this attitude is peace of mind ( ataraxia ), which, according to Pyrrhon, is the only achievable happiness ( eudaimonia ). The skeptics adopted the proposition of the sophist Protagoras that man is the measure of all things . Nothing was inherently right or wrong, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly to them. For them, these judgments were merely human conventions that could naturally be changed or revoked at any time. It all depends on the circumstances and the respective perspective. A single grain of sand seems hard, while a heap of sand appears soft and yielding.

Following on from Pyrrhon's doctrine, founded in the 1st century BC BC Ainesidemos the New Pyrrhonism .

Since the end of the third century AD, Pyrrhonic Skepticism had been forgotten; through Cicero and Augustine, the Middle Ages only knew academic skepticism. In 1562, the printer and publisher Henri Estienne (stephanus) published a Latin translation of “Outline of the Pyrrhonic Skepticism” by Sextus Empiricus , which was followed in 1569 by the French counter- reformer Gentian Hervet, whose complete Latin edition followed. Montaigne's “Apology” was written in 1575/76 ; After Richard H. Popkin and Friedo Ricken , among others , Montaigne's pyrrhonism was one of the decisive factors for the development of modern philosophy. Following Sextus, Montaigne doubts, among other things, the reliability of the senses, the truth of the first principles and the validity of a truth criterion. David Hume , who is of the opinion that no problem can be solved with the help of reason, unfolds this point . Reason is incapable of making a decision between irreconcilable statements.

In addition to the stoic term apatheia , the term ataraxia has also been handed down. In the writings of the Sextus Empiricus, ataraxia actually describes the goal of ethics, which, however, cannot be striven for directly, since every striving for it, even every dogmatic doctrine about the essence of ataraxia would mean a shock and thus destruction of peace of mind. Hence the Neupyrrhoneer say that ataraxia follows the abstention ( epoché ) "like the shadow". One arrives at peace of mind "by chance" by abstaining from judgment in all decisions and thus escaping being torn back and forth.

Differentiation from academic skepticism

Sextus Empiricus tried in his work Grundriss der Pyrrhonischen Skeptis (I 220-235) to explain the difference between Pyrrhonic and academic skepticism, but he is trying hard to make the difference clear.

Perhaps because of this - Sextus Empiricus was not alone with his need to explain and the skeptical turn of the Academy to abstain from judgment appeared unmotivated without Pyrrhon's influence - Arkesilaos was already associated with Pyrrhon. The fact that this point was nevertheless considered worthy of clarification is evident, among other things, from the fact that Plutarch is said to have written a paper about it and Gellius points out that it is "an old question dealt with by many Greek writers".

Änesidem formulated the difference between Pyrrhones and academics as follows: “Academics are dogmatists and undoubtedly set one thing, and another without amphibolism; The Pyrrhones, however, are aporeticians and freed from any opinion, in any case none of them said neither that everything is unknowable, nor that it is knowable, but that it is not more of one kind than of the other ... "

The real difference between the two directions seems to have been based on the assessment of the status of the arguments.

reception

In addition to Pyrrhon of Elis, Timon of Phleius and Numenios are assigned to the Pyrrhonic skepticism . In addition, Pyrrhon had a number of well-known students and followers, among them Eurylochus , Hecataus of Abdera and Nausiphanes of Teos .

Pyrrhon's principle of systematic doubt and the figurehead of abstention from judgment have otherwise inspired countless philosophers, from Epicurus to René Descartes and Michel de Montaigne to Edmund Husserl (1859–1938).

In Der Wanderer und seine Schatten, Friedrich Nietzsche describes a skepticism-filled dialogue between Pyrrhon and an old man, which ends with the fact that silence and laughter are the whole philosophy. The main character in Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra is also filled with skepticism.

The English Bishop George Berkeley went one step further and denied not only that we can know anything about reality, but that there is an outside world that is independent of our perception. “Being” is nothing more than “being perceived,” says Berkeley. The astronomer Theodosius spoke out against naming skepticism after Pyrrhon. He took Pyrrhon's teaching completely at his word and stated that after all, no one knew the thoughts of others, and so no one could know for sure what Pyrrhon was really thinking.

Source editions and translations

  • Fernanda Decleva Caizzi (Ed.): Pirrone testimonianze. Naples 1981. (Collection of all testimonials with Italian translation and detailed commentary)
  • Anthony A. Long, David N. Sedley: The Hellenistic Philosophers. 2 volumes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1987. (Vol. 1 offers on pp. 13-24 the most important testimonies about Pyrrhon and Timon von Phleius in English translation, vol. 2 on pp. 1-17 the original Greek texts)
  • Rolf Nölle (Ed.): Diogenes Laertios. Life and teachings of famous philosophers. ancient Greek / German. Books on Demand, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-4053-1 . Excerpts available online.
  • Klaus Reich (Ed.): Diogenes Laertius. Lives and opinions of famous philosophers. In a translation by Otto Apelt . F. Meiner Verlag, 1967.

literature

Overview presentations and introductions

Overall representations

  • Richard Bett: Pyrrho, His Antecedents, and His Legacy. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2003, ISBN 0-19-925661-6 (excerpts online) .
  • Marcel Conche: Pyrrhon ou l'apparence. Editions de Mégare, Villers-sur-Mer 1973.
  • Léon Robin: Pyrrhon et le skepticisme grec. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1944, reprint Garland, New York et al. 1980, ISBN 0-8240-9589-8

Investigations on individual aspects

  • Christopher I. Beckwith : Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia. Princeton University Press, Princeton / Oxford 2015, ISBN 978-0-691-16644-5
  • Karel Janáček, Jan Janda, Filip Karfík: Studies on Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius and on Pyrrhonic skepticism. De Gruyter, Munich et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019505-7 .
  • Andreas Kamp: From the Paleolithic to the Postmodern - The Genesis of our Epoch System , Vol. 1: From the Beginnings to the End of the 17th Century , Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2010, pp. 104–119 and onwards (on the epoché concept and its tradition and distribution)

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Diogenes Laertius: Lives and opinions of famous philosophers. Translated from the Greek by Otto Apelt . Edited by Klaus Reich. 2nd edition Hamburg 1967
  2. ↑ Ricken: Ancient Skeptics. P. 13.
  3. ↑ Matthias Haake: The philosopher in the city. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55856-6 , p. 301.
  4. ↑ Richard bed: Pyrrho, his antecedents, and his legacy. 2000. pp. 1/2.
  5. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero: Academic Treatises. In a translation by Christoph Schäublin . Volume 479 of the Philosophical Library. Meiner Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-7873-1350-8 , introduction p. XXVII.
  6. ^ Online version of Tusculanae disputationes
  7. ↑ Klaus Reich (Ed.): Diogenes Laertius. Lives and opinions of famous philosophers. In a translation by Otto Apelt. F. My publisher. 1967, p. 194.
  8. ↑ Uwe Schultz: Michel de Montaigne. Rowohlt, 1989, ISBN 3-499-50442-1 , p. 105.
  9. ^ A b Diogenes Laertius: Philosophical history. Schwickertscher Verlag, Leipzig 1806, p. 393.
  10. ↑ Ricken, p. 21
  11. ↑ Matthias Haake: The philosopher in the city. P. 302
  12. ^ Wilhelm Dilthey: General history of philosophy: lectures 1900-1905. In: Gabriele Gebhardt, Hans-Ulrich Lessing (Ed.): Collected writings. Volume 23. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000, ISBN 3-525-30319-X , p. 53.
  13. ↑ Rolf Nölle (Ed.) Diogenes Laertius. ancient Greek / German. Books on Demand, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-4053-1 , pp. 344-345.
  14. ^ Paul Moraux: Aristotelianism among the Greeks: from Andronikos to Alexander of Aphrodisias. Walter de Gruyter, 1984, ISBN 3-110-09919-5 , p. 173, note 304.
  15. ↑ Ricken, p. 14ff. according to DL IX 62;
  16. ^ Paul Moraux: Aristotelianism among the Greeks: from Andronikos to Alexander of Aphrodisias. Walter de Gruyter, 1984, ISBN 3-110-09919-5 , p. 173.
  17. ↑ Hegel: Lectures on the history of philosophy. 1969, Vol. 19, p. 370.
  18. ↑ Markus Wild : The anthropological difference: the spirit of the animals in the early modern period in Montaigne, Descartes and Hume. Walter de Gruyter, 2006, ISBN 3-110-18945-3 , pp. 130ff.
  19. ^ Rolf Nölle (ed.): Diogenes Laertius. ancient Greek / German. Books on Demand, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-4053-1 , p. 344.
  20. ↑ Matthias Haake: The philosopher in the city. P. 302.
  21. ↑ Lukian: Sects . 365
  22. ^ Nicola Graap: Fénelon: Dialogues des morts composés pour l'éducation d'un prince. LIT Verlag Münster, 2001. ISBN 3-825-85176-1 . P. 99.
  23. ↑ Matthias Haake: The philosopher in the city. P. 302.
  24. ↑ Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 14,18,2-4.
  25. ↑ Ricken, p. 13.
  26. ↑ RJ Hankinson: The skeptics. Taylor & Francis, 1999, ISBN 0-415-20353-8 , pp. 129-130.
  27. ↑ Ricken pp. 9-10
  28. ^ A b Marcus Tullius Cicero: Academic treatises. In a translation by Christoph Schäublin. Volume 479 of the Philosophical Library. Meiner Verlag, 1995. ISBN 3-7873-1350-8 . Introduction p. XXVIII.
  29. ↑ and refers to Gellius: Noctes Atticae 11, 5, 6.
  30. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero: Academic Treatises. In a translation by Christoph Schäublin. Volume 479 of the Philosophical Library. Meiner Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-7873-1350-8 . Introduction p. XXVIII f., (Translation by A. Bächli: Investigations on the pyrrhonic skepticism according to (after Photios, Bibl., Cod. 212, 169b38-170a3))
  31. ↑ Gisela Striker : About the difference between the Pyrrhones and the academics. In: Phronesis 26, 1981, pp. 158-171.
  32. ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: The wanderer and his shadow. No. 213. In: KSA vol. 2. pp. 645 f.
  33. ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus spoke Zarathustra. In: KSA Bd 4 p. 101 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Pyrrhon of Elis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pyrrho
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 360 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Elis
DATE OF DEATH around 270 BC Chr.