| Western Philosophy Ancient philosophy |
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Pyrrho
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| Birth | ca. This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Western philosophy, the spread of Christianity through the Roman Empire marked the end of Hellenistic 360 BC, Elis (Greece) |
| Death | ca. Events By place Egypt With the help of King Agesilaus II of Sparta, Nectanebo II deposes Teos and becomes Elis, or Eleia ( Greek, Modern Ήλιδα Ilida, Ancient Ēlis, Doric: Alis, Elean: Walis) is an ancient Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία 270 BC |
| School/tradition | Skepticism |
| Influenced by | Democritus |
| Influenced | Timon of Phlius, Aenesidemus, Sextus Empiricus |
Pyrrho (ca. Events By place Roman Republic Rome's subjugation of Italy is completed by the recapture of Rhegium (in southern Italy In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences Democritus ( Greek:) was a pre-Socratic Greek Materialist Philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca Timon (Τίμων of Phlius, (c 320-c 230 BC the son of Timarchus was a Greek sceptic, a pupil of Pyrrho, and a celebrated writer Aenesidemus ( Ancient Greek: Αἰνησίδημος Ainêsidemos was a Greek sceptical philosopher born in Knossos on the island of Crete Sextus Empiricus (c 160-210 AD was a Physician and Philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or 360 BC - ca. Events By place Egypt With the help of King Agesilaus II of Sparta, Nectanebo II deposes Teos and becomes 270 BC), a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher, and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC. Events By place Roman Republic Rome's subjugation of Italy is completed by the recapture of Rhegium (in southern Italy Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of Skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BC and recorded by Sextus Empiricus Aenesidemus ( Ancient Greek: Αἰνησίδημος Ainêsidemos was a Greek sceptical philosopher born in Knossos on the island of Crete
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Life
Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea. Elis, or Eleia ( Greek, Modern Ήλιδα Ilida, Ancient Ēlis, Doric: Alis, Elean: Walis) is an ancient The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. Diogenes Laertius, quoting from Apollodorus, says that Pyrrho was at first a painter, and that pictures by him were exhibited in the gymnasium at Elis. Diogenes Laërtius ( Greek:, Diogénes Laértios) the biographer of the Greek Philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname 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. Democritus ( Greek:) was a pre-Socratic Greek Materialist Philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca The Megarian school of philosophy was founded by Euclides of Megara, one of the pupils of Socrates. Bryson of Achaea, (or Bryson the Achaean) was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived c Stilpo ( Greek: Στίλπων Greek Philosopher of the Megarian school (lived c [1]
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. Anaxarchus (flourished around 340 BC) a Greek Philosopher of the school of Democritus, was born at Abdera in Thrace. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Gymnosophists is the name (meaning "naked philosophers" given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued Asceticism to India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Magi (singular Magus, from Latin via Greek μάγος; Old English: Mage; from Persian maguš and Kurdish The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia This exposure to Eastern philosophy seems to have inspired him to adopt a life of solitude; returning to Elis, he lived in poor circumstances, but was highly honored by the Elians and also by the Athenians, who conferred upon him the rights of citizenship. Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Persian
Pyrrho wrote nothing. His doctrines were recorded in the satiric writings of his pupil Timon of Phlius (the Sillographer). Timon (Τίμων of Phlius, (c 320-c 230 BC the son of Timarchus was a Greek sceptic, a pupil of Pyrrho, and a celebrated writer Unfortunately these works are mostly lost. Today Pyrrho's ideas are known mainly through the book Outlines of Pyrrhonism written by the Greek physician Sextus Empiricus. Sextus Empiricus (c 160-210 AD was a Physician and Philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or
Philosophy
The main principle of Pyrrho's thought is expressed by the word acatalepsia, which connotes the ability to withhold assent from doctrines regarding the truth of things in their own nature; against every statement its contradiction may be advanced with equal justification. Acatalepsy (from the Greek α̉- privative and καταλαμβάνειν to seize in Philosophy, is incomprehensibleness or the impossibility of comprehending "Noumena" redirects here For the band see Noumena (band. 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". Ataraxia (Ἀταραξία is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for a limpid state characterized by freedom from worry or any
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 indistinguishable, unmeasurable, undecidable, and no more this than that, or both this and that and neither this nor that. He concluded that human senses neither transmit truths nor lie. [2] Humanity cannot know the inner substance of things, only how things appear. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence
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. Agnosticism ( Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the Its ethical implications may be compared with the ideal tranquility of the Stoics and the Epicureans. Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC
Notes
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
- 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. Myles Fredric Burnyeat CBE (born 1 January 1939) is an English Classicist and Philosopher. ), The Skeptical Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).
- Burnyeat, Myles and Frede, Michael (eds. ), The Original Sceptics: A Controversy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997).
- Doomen, Jasper, "The Problems of Scepticism" Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy 10 (2007): 36-52.
- 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 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
- Pyrrho entry at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Richard Bett
- Pyrrho entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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