Schools of Philosophy
Pyrrhonism
PIH-ruh-niz-uhm
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Pyrrhonism is the ancient Greek skeptical tradition that suspends judgment on all dogmatic claims about how things really are, aiming at inquiry rather than assertion. It takes its name from Pyrrho of Elis and was later given a systematic method by Aenesidemus, standing beside Academic Skepticism as one of the two schools of ancient skepticism.
Facts
Start YearApproximate; traditionally dated to the life of Pyrrho of Elis (c. 365/360-275/70 BCE). The rigorous Pyrrhonist method associated with the name was later systematized by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE. RegionAncient Greece and the Hellenistic Mediterranean 1 Disputed
End YearSextus Empiricus, writing in the late second or early third century CE, is the last major Pyrrhonist whose work survives, but later writers report individual Pyrrhonists as late as the sixth century CE, so there is no settled date for when the school itself ceased. Cross-Tradition Connections
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Open Questions (1 open question)
Can a Pyrrhonian Skeptic Act Without Belief?
Critics ancient and modern have charged that suspending judgment on all matters makes purposeful action impossible; Sextus Empiricus answered that skeptics act by following appearances, but scholars remain divided on whether that answer itself smuggles in belief, and interpretation of Sextus's own position is, in the Stanford Encyclopedia's own words, quite controversial.
What would resolve this A consensus reading of Sextus Empiricus's account of following appearances that scholars agree either does or does not amount to holding beliefs, which decades of interpretive work have not settled.
EpistemologyAncient Skepticism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
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