Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is the name for a historical variant of skepticism that goes back to the ancient Greek philosopher Pyrrhon von Elis (approx. 362 BC - 275/270 BC). Pyrrhonism, also known as " Pyrrhonic skepticism ", is the oldest form of skepticism that emerged in Europe. His followers are called Pyrrhones (more rarely Pyrrhonists).
Definition of terms
In contrast to the Platonists , Peripatetics , Stoics and Epicureans , the Pyrrhones did not have a school as an institution with a permanent seat, but only individual teachers around whom students gathered.
A distinction is made between older and younger Pyrrhonism. The Elderly Pyrrhonism, also called Elderly Skepticism, is the philosophy represented by Pyrrhon himself and his students and their students. The most prominent disciple of Pyrrhon was Timon of Phleius . Younger Pyrrhonism is the term used in the 1st century BC. Tradition founded by Ainesidemos . Its best known representative is Sextus Empiricus , who lived in the late 2nd century AD.
In addition to the Pyrrhonic skepticism, there was another main skeptical trend in antiquity, the “ academic skepticism ”, which prevailed in the Platonic Academy for around 180 years. The academic skeptics partly represented more moderate variants of skepticism than the Pyrrhones, who were all radical (from their point of view: consequent). Pyrrhones like Sextus Empiricus saw only their own skepticism as completely consistent and assumed the academic skeptics lacked consistency. The differences between the Pyrrhones and the radical tendency among the academic skeptics, to which especially Kleitomachus belonged, were, however, very small.
In the early modern period , Pyrrhonism became known to a broader group of educated people after works by Sextus Empiricus had appeared in Latin translation in the 1660s. The three-way division of the philosophers into "academics", (Pyrrhonic) "skeptics" and "dogmatists" was taken over from Sextus. “Dogmatist” was the derogatory term used by the skeptics to refer to all non-skeptical philosophers. In the early modern period, the “academics” (academic skeptics) were often assumed - historically incorrect - to have “dogmatic skepticism” (“ I know that I know nothing ” as a factual assertion), the Pyrrhones - correctly - the inclusion of their own statements in the Skepticism (“self-inclusion” of skepticism).
For the content of Pyrrhonism see the main articles Skepticism and Pyrrhon von Elis .
reception
Already Cicero (* 106 BC; † 43 BC) counted the Pyrrhones (as well as the Megarics , the Eretrics and the Herilleians) among the long-forgotten philosophers.
See also
Source collections and translations
- Anthony Arthur Long, David N. Sedley (Eds.): The Hellenistic Philosophers. Texts and comments . Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01574-2 , pp. 13-27, 559-582 (translation of source texts with commentary).
literature
- Christian Breker: Introductory commentary on Sextus Empiricus' "Outline of the Pyrrhonic Skepticism". University publication, Mainz 2011 ( available online ).
- Myles Burnyeat (Ed.): The Skeptical Tradition. University of California Press, Berkeley 1983, ISBN 0-520-03747-2 (important articles, also on the modern reception of Pyrrhonism).
- Gabriele Giannantoni (Ed.): Lo scetticismo antico. 2 volumes, Bibliopolis, Napoli 1981 (numerous articles).
- Markus Völkel : Pyrrhonism historicus and Fides historica. Lang, Frankfurt 1987.
- Woldemar Görler : Older Pyrrhonism . In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity , Vol. 4: The Hellenistic philosophy. 2. Halbband, Schwabe, Basel 1994, ISBN 3-7965-0930-4 , pp. 721-774 (and pp. 983-986 on Ainesidemos).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cicero, De oratore 3.62.