Sextus Empiricus

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Sextus Empiricus.jpg Sextus Empiricus (fl. during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD), was a physician and philosopher, and probably lived in Alexandria and Athens. His philosophical work is the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman skepticism.

In his medical work he belonged to the "empiric" school (see Asclepiades). He studied under a Herotodus, a doctor in Rome.

Contents

[edit]

Sextus's Writings

Sextus Empiricus's three known works are the Outlines of Pyrrhonism (Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτύπωσεις), and two distinct works preserved under the same title, Against the Mathematicians (Adversus Mathematicos), one of which is probably incomplete.

The first six books of Against the Mathematicians are commonly known as Against the Professors, but each book also has a traditional title (Against the Grammarians (book I), Against the Rhetoricians (book II), Against the Geometricians (book III), Against the Arithmeticians (book IV), Against the Astrologers (book V), Against the Musicians (book VI)). It is widely believed that this is Sextus' latest and most mature work.

Books VII-XI of Against the Mathematicians form an incomplete whole; scholars believe that at least one, but possibly as many as five books, are missing from the beginning of the work. The extant books have the traditional titles Against the Logicians (books VII-VIII), Against the Physicists (books IX-X,) and Against the Ethicists (book XI). Against the Mathematicians VII-XI is sometimes distinguished from Against the Mathematicians I-VI by giving it the title Against the Dogmatists (in which case Against the Logicians are called books I-II, Against the Physicists are called books III-IV, and Against the Ethicists is called book V, despite the fact that it is commonly believed that the beginning of the work is missing and it is not known how many books might have preceded the extant books).

Note that none of these titles are found in the manuscripts except Adversus Mathematicos (Against the Mathematicians) and Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτύπωσεις (Outlines of Pyrrhonism)

[edit]

Philosophy

Sextus Empiricus advocates a form of Pyrrhonic skepticism: that is, that we know very little (if anything) about which beliefs are true or false. Sextus proposes that we should suspend judgement about almost all beliefs, that is, to neither affirm them as true or deny them as false. Unlike the skeptics of the later Academy, Sextus did not deny the possibility of knowledge. The claim that nothing is knowable he criticizes as skeptical dogmatism. Instead, Sextus proposes suspending judgement about whether or not anything is knowable. Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of ataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind'). Sextus did not think such a general suspension of judgment to be impractical, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit.

Sextus allowed that experience (e.g., reports about our feelings or sensations) might be a source of genuine knowledge that we could affirm as true. However, he argued it might be impossible for experience to ground any objective knowledge of the world. For while I might know that the honey I eat tastes sweet, this is merely a subjective judgment, and as such may not tell me anything true about honey itself.

[edit]

Sextus's Legacy

An influential edition of Sextus's "Outlines" with a Latin translation was published by Henricus Stephanus in Geneva in 1562. Sextus's "Outlines" were widely read in Europe during 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and had a profound impact on Michel de Montaigne, David Hume, among many others. Another source for the circulation of Sextus' ideas was Bayle's Dictionary. The legacy of Pyrrhonism is described in Richard Popkin: The History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes and High Road to Pyrrhonism. Some of his skeptical arguments resemble those made by the 1st century CE Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna.

[edit]

References

[edit]

Translations

  • Excerpts from the "Outlines of Pyrrhonism"
  • Patrick, Sextus Empiricus and the Greek Sceptics (1899). (The last English translation of the complete works was Bury, R.G. Sextus Empiricus, in four volumes (Loeb Classical Library: London and Cambridge, Mass., Vol.I 1933, II 1935, III 1936, IV 1949).
  • Sextus Empiricus, Against the Ethicists: (Adversus Mathematicos XI). Richard Bett (transl.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000). ISBN 0198250975
  • Sextus Empiricus, Against the Logicians. Richard Bett (transl.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). ISBN 0521531950
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Scepticism. Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes (þýð.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2. útg. 2000). ISBN 0521778093
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism. R.G. Bury (transl.) (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1990). ISBN 0879755970
  • Sextus Empiricus, Selections from the Major Writings on Skepticism Man and God. Sanford G. Etheridge (transl.) (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1985). ISBN 087220006X
  • Sextus Empiricus, Sextus Empiricus I: Outlines of Pyrrhonism. R.G. Bury (transl.) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1933/2000). ISBN 0674993012
  • Sextus Empiricus, Sextus Empiricus II: Against the Logicians. R.G. Bury (transl.) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1935/1997). ISBN 0674993217
  • Sextus Empiricus, Sextus Empiricus III: Against the Physicists, Against The Ethicists. R.G. Bury (transl.) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936/1997). ISBN 0674993446
  • Sextus Empiricus, Sextus Empiricus IV: Against the Professors. R.G. Bury (transl.) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949/2000). ISBN 0674994205
  • Sextus Empiricus, The Skeptic Way: Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism. Benson Mates (transl.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). ISBN 0195092139
[edit]

Scholarly works

  • Annas, Julia and Barnes, Jonathan, The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). ISBN 0521276446
  • Bett, Richard, Pyrrho, his antecedents, and his legacy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). ISBN 0199256616
  • Brochard, Les Sceptiques grecs (1887)
  • Burnyeat, Myles og Frede, Michael (ritstj.), The Original Sceptics: A Controversy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997). ISBN 0872203476
  • Hankinson, R.J., The Skeptics (London: Routledge, 1998). ISBN 0415184460
  • Jourdain, Sextus Empiricus (Paris, 1858)
  • Pappenheim, Lebensverholtnisse des Sextus Empiricus (Berlin, 1875)
  • Popkin, Richard, The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). ISBN 0195107683

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.fr:Sextus Empiricus is:Sextos Empeirikos pl:Sekstus Empiryk ru:Секст Эмпирик fi:Sekstos Empeirikos

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Sextus_Empiricus"