Pyrrho

The outlines of Pyrrhonism in the testimony of Aristocles

The testimony of Aristocles (Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 14.18.1-4) allows for two different and incompatible interpretations of Pyrrho's philosophical stance. On the one hand, his claim for a happy life without opinions might result from his second-order endorsement of a thesis of metaphysical indeterminacy. On the other hand, it is possible to argue that he motivated suspension of judgement by pointing to the insufficiency of the human capacity for knowledge. In my paper, I give a brief overview of these two types of reading, their philosophical and textual merits, and their import for the question whether Pyrrho was a genuine forerunner of the later Pyrrhonist movement.


A pürrhóni filozófia alapvonalai az arisztoklészi testimóniumban

Az Arisztoklész-testimónium (Euszebiosz, Felkészítés az Evangéliumra 14.18.1-4) alapján két eltérő és összeegyeztethetetlen Pürrhón-értelmezés bontható ki. Az egyik szerint Pürrhón sajátos, a dolgok meghatározatlanságára vonatkozó metafizikai nézete alapján szorgalmazta a vélekedés nélküli életet, a másik szerint viszont az emberi megismerőképesség elégtelen volta miatt gondolta úgy, hogy minden kérdésben fel kell függesztenünk ítéletünket. A tanulmányban áttekintem a két értelmezéstípus legfontosabb változatait, filozófiai és nyelvi megalapozottságukat, illetve a későbbi pürrhónikus mozgalomhoz való viszonyukat.

In: Vasil Gluchman (ed.): DEJINY ETIKY I. (starovek až začiatok novoveku)
Časť učebnice, ktorá obsahuje kapitoly z antickej etiky:
- Antická etika: čo znamená „žiť dobre“
- Platón: zdatnosť a dobro
- Aristotelés: etika blaženosti a zdatného života
- Epikúros: o šťastnom živote
- Stoa: život v súlade s prirodzenosťou
- Pyrrhonizmus a Cicero: môže byť skeptik blažený?

A Meta-Philosophy exploration of immanent and non-immanent  features of  first-order philosophy in terms of the values of non- values or negative values of Radical Scepticism, Nihilism and Minarchy, executed to show how philosophizing is done.

It misleadingly seems as if there is no progress in philosophy as, like in visual art, literature and music, each original thinker re-invents the entire discipline, its aims, purposes, values, methods,
etc
The nature of philosophical tools, methods, techniques and skills will be investigated and applied in terms of radical scepticism.

This approach, set of values and attitude restrict the nature and the style of the meta-philosophizing. It will for example prevent the traditional development of a general, all-encompassing and all-inclusive metaphysical system. It also demands the focus on context-specific investigation of questions and the dealing of a particular problem in a certain context.

These limits require the re-interpretation of any philosophical tool
being employed as well as the underlying assumptions and any pre-suppositions.

As far as possible philosophizing as an aspect of the processes of theorizing will be adhered to and realized. In chapter THREE I illustrate many-leveled and multi-dimensional thinking, that are to me as a visual artist as well, of extreme importance. These are the types of things employed by radical skepticism and that should be the form of philosophizing instead of and replacing traditional one-leveled and one-dimensional thinking, argumentation and reasoning

This work is a revisionist reading on the impact of the historical meeting of Alexandrian philosophers with Indian ascetics in Gandhāra during the far eastern campaigns of Alexandros of Macedonia (356–323 BCE). A comparative
re-examination of Greek and Indian sources yields new evidence that situates the religious identity of the Indian gymnosophist Kalanos in early ascetic traditions of Buddhism in NW India that upheld the practice of ritual suicide by immolation on specific occasions during the later part of the fourth century BCE. It supports previous research on the Hellenistic period that philosophically links Pyrrhon of Elis (c.360–c.270 BCE) with Indian Buddhism through his encounters with Kalanos and on the basis of shared soteriological conceptions and practices.

En el presente trabajo hemos tratado de exponer una visión unitaria de la génesis del pensamiento escéptico en su doble vertiente histórica y temática. Por ello, la estructuración interna evita el mero orden cronológico intentando, por el contrario, agrupar las corrientes objeto de estudio en función de la proximidad de sus contenidos doctrinales y también del modo de comprensión de estos contenidos por parte de la propia tradición escéptica. Así, la aproximación a la filosofía escéptica que aquí se ofrece pretende especialmente clarificar el decurso de la línea filosófica que, según el propio escepticismo, se inicia en los albores de la tradición griega y que termina dando lugar al corpus ideológico de la escuela pirrónica a partir de Enesidemo. La comprensión de este decurso filosófico se muestra como requisito previo imprescindible para cualquier investigación que pretenda poner en claro los presupuestos y categorías subyacentes a la filosofía escéptica. Por ello, hemos tratado de analizar y discutir con detenimiento las nociones fundamentales que funcionan como marco de referencia del pensamiento pirrónico, así como el papel que cada una de ellas desempeña en la concepción filosófica escéptica en su conjunto. Nuestra intención fundamental ha sido la de trazarnos como línea de investigación uno de los aspectos a nuestro entender más interesantes de la concepción filosófica que caracteriza a la corriente escéptica: el alcance teórico y las características específicas de su posición, determinadas por el tipo de supuestos con los que el filósofo escéptico cuenta a la base de su actividad.

This article is focused on answering the question to what extent one can be a sceptic. Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Scepticism serves as a guide. In section 1, it is investigated whether three logical laws have a certain foundation or are subject to doubt. In section 2, Sextus’s way to deal with these laws is examined; the question arises how dogmatic his approach is. After that, a possible ‘reply’ by Sextus to the criticism receives attention. Section 3 is concentrated on a possible alternative to Sextus’s approach. Besides logical laws, some important methods are concerned.

This book presents a controversial view of early Buddhism as closely related to Pyrrhonism, before the drawing up of the Pali canon and before the development of India-centred myths. It questions whether karma and rebirth were taught in early Buddhism. It claims that the Greek histories of Alexander may be our best historical source for early Buddhism.

"Ugo Zilioli has put together an inspiring, dialogical collection of papers, which explore routes traced by the evidence for the other (let's stop saying 'minor') Socratics and their heirs through many of the blank spaces left on our historical map between Plato and the Hellenistic age. At the same time as advancing our understanding of Classical metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, the papers grapple with important questions about how we do ancient philosophy, and bring much needed critical light to categories, such as that of 'school' itself, which shapes our thinking", George Boys-Stones

This monograph reevaluates a school of thought concerned with truth and inquiry. It examines the critique which asserts that it's not possible to live this Early Greek philosophy in practice. The investigation also details new discoveries on the reception of Skepticism by Empiricist Doctors, Early Greek Fathers, Medieval Arabic Thinkers, and Renaissance Thinkers.
The author takes a careful look at the apraxia argument and how critics used it. He shows how anti-skeptical arguments rose in different stages of the development of the Skepticism. Coverage also details how the skeptics replied and gave more pragmatic coherence to their philosophy, starting with the proto-skeptics and continuing with the works of Sextus Empiricus. Readers will learn how skepticism endured despite the criticisms, becoming a coherent response to dogmatic philosophies such as Stoicism. The investigation also analyzes the two common approaches that philosophers have used to interpret Sextan philosophy. It considers their benefits as well as defects. In the process, the author presents an original way of interpreting Sextan thought, which the author calls the “suburban interpretation”. He then applies this "middle way" to two works: Against the Grammarians and Against the Rhetoricians. Overall, the book provides readers with an insightful look at how this school of thought survived and spread throughout the ages

A book of essays: Ars vivendi (The Art of Living). Each of them deals with the ancient approaches to philosophy as an art of living. The essays are dedicated to Protagoras, Socrates, Antisthenes, Pyrrho, Diogenes the Cynic, Epicurus, Seneca, Epictetus, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Foucault etc. The table of contents is available in the sample chapter.

"El empleo por parte del escepticismo pirrónico de un esquema argumentativo
basado en la noción de contradicción nos induce a pensar que dicha noción juega un papel importante entre los puntos de partida básicos de su filosofía. Por ello, se muestra como imprescindible emprender un análisis pormenorizado de las implicaciones que conlleva la presencia de esta noción en el argumento escéptico clásico para determinar la presencia de implicaciones derivadas del principio de no-contradicción y su compatibilidad con la posición filosófica propia de esta corriente helenística.

The use, by the pyrrhonian scepticism, of an argumentative pattern based on the notion of contradicition leads us to think that said notion plays an important role among the basic starting points of its philosophy. Therefore, it appears as essential to start a detailed analysis of the implications of this notion inside the classic sceptical argument, in order to determinate the presence of implications derived from the principle of non-contradiction, and their compatibility with the philosophical position that corresponds to this hellenistic school."

In this paper, I shall attempt a brief reconstruction of the epistemological
views of Pyrrho and Aenesidemus. For Pyrrho, I shall rely mainly on Aristocles’ testimony
(Aristocl. ap. Eus., PE XIV 18, 1-5), whereas for Aenesidemus, I shall take into account
the Sextan version of the ten and eight modes of suspension of judgment (PH, I, 35-163;
180-186). In this way, I intend to highlight some of the distinctive features of Pyrrhonian
scepticism.

An investigation of the attribution of a determined conceptual framework (as epoché, ataraxia and adiaphoria) to Pyrrho, according to the narration of his “Life” written by Diogenes Laertius, in D.L. IX, 61-71. So, we offer an interpretation about the possibility of the Pyrrho’s own utilization of these concepts.

Resumen En el presente trabajo hemos tratado de exponer una visión unitaria de la génesis del pensamiento escéptico en su doble vertiente histórica y temática. Por ello, la estructuración interna evita el mero orden cronológico intentando, por el contrario, ...