Sextus Empiricus | |
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| Born | Second century AD |
| Died | Late 2nd century or early 3rd century possibly inAlexandria orRome |
| Notable work |
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| Era | Hellenistic philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Pyrrhonism Empiric school |
Main interests | Skepticism |
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| Pyrrhonism |
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Sextus Empiricus (Ancient Greek:Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός,Sextos Empeirikos;fl. mid-late 2nd century AD) was aGreekPyrrhonistphilosopher andEmpiric schoolphysician withRoman citizenship. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and RomanPyrrhonism, and because of the arguments they contain against the otherHellenistic philosophies, they are also a major source of information about those philosophies.
Little is known about Sextus Empiricus. He likely lived inAlexandria,Rome, orAthens.[1] His Roman name,Sextus, implies he was a Roman citizen.[2] TheSuda, a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, states that he was the same person asSextus of Chaeronea,[3] as do other pre-modern sources, but this identification is commonly doubted.[4] In his medical work, as reflected by his name, tradition maintains that he belonged to the Empiric school in which Pyrrhonism was popular. However, at least twice in his writings, Sextus seems to place himself closer to theMethodic school.
As a skeptic, Sextus Empiricus raised concerns which applied to all types of knowledge. He doubted the validity ofinduction[5] long before its best known criticDavid Hume, and raised theregress argument against all forms of reasoning:
Those who claim for themselves to judge the truth are bound to possess a criterion of truth. This criterion, then, either is without a judge's approval or has been approved. But if it is without approval, whence comes it that it is trustworthy? For no matter of dispute is to be trusted without judging. And, if it has been approved, that which approves it, in turn, either has been approved or has not been approved, and so onad infinitum.[6]
This view is known asPyrrhonian skepticism, which Sextus differentiated fromAcademic skepticism as practiced byCarneades which, according to Sextus, denies the possibility of knowledge altogether, something that Sextus criticized as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief; in other words, suspending judgment (epoché) about whether or not anything is knowable.[7] Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state ofataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind').
There is some debate as to the extent to which Sextus advocated the suspension of judgement. According toMyles Burnyeat,[8]Jonathan Barnes,[9] andBenson Mates,[10] Sextus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs; that is to say, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit.Michael Frede, however, defends a different interpretation,[11] according to which Sextus does allow beliefs, so long as they are not derived by reason, philosophy or speculation; a skeptic may, for example, accept common opinions in the skeptic's society. The important difference between the skeptic and the dogmatist is that the skeptic does not hold his beliefsas a result of rigorous philosophical investigation.
Diogenes Laërtius[12] and theSuda[3] report that Sextus Empiricus wrote ten books on Pyrrhonism. The Suda also says Sextus wrote a bookEthica. Sextus Empiricus's three surviving works are theOutlines of Pyrrhonism (Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτυπώσεις,Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis, thus commonly abbreviatedPH), and two distinct works preserved under the same title,Adversus Mathematicos (Πρὸς μαθηματικούς,Pros mathematikous, commonly abbreviated "AM" or "M" and known asAgainst Those in the Disciplines, orAgainst the Mathematicians).Adversus Mathematicos is incomplete as the text references parts that are not in the surviving text.Adversus Mathematicos also includes mentions of three other works which did not survive:
The surviving first six books ofAdversus Mathematicos are commonly known asAgainst the Professors. Each book also has a traditional title;[14] although none of these titles exceptPros mathematikous andPyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis are found in the manuscripts.
| Book | English title | Greek title |
|---|---|---|
| I | Against the Grammarians | Πρὸς γραμματικούς / Pros grammatikous |
| II | Against the Rhetoricians | Πρὸς ῥητορικούς / Pros rhetorikous |
| III | Against the Geometers | Πρὸς γεωμετρικούς / Pros geometrikous |
| IV | Against the Arithmeticians | Πρὸς ἀριθμητικούς / Pros arithmetikous |
| V | Against the Astrologers | Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους / Pros astrologous |
| VI | Against the Musicians | Πρὸς μουσικούς / Pros mousikous |
Adversus MathematicosI–VI is sometimes distinguished fromAdversus MathematicosVII–XI by using another title,Against the Dogmatists (Πρὸς δογματικούς,Pros dogmatikous) and then the remaining books are numbered as I–II, III–IV, and V, despite the fact that it is commonly inferred that what we have is just part of a larger work whose beginning is missing and it is unknown how much of the total work has been lost. The supposed general title of this partially lost work isSkeptical Treatises' (Σκεπτικὰ Ὑπομνήματα/Skeptika Hypomnēmata).[15]
| Book | English title | Greek title |
|---|---|---|
| VII–VIII | Against the Logicians | Πρὸς λογικούς / Pros logikous |
| IX–X | Against the Physicists | Πρὸς φυσικούς / Pros Physikous |
| XI | Against the Ethicists | Πρὸς ἠθικούς / Pros Ethikous |
An influentialLatin translation of Sextus'sOutlines was published byHenricus Stephanus inGeneva in 1562,[16] and this was followed by a complete Latin Sextus withGentian Hervet as translator in 1569.[17] Petrus and Jacobus Chouet published the Greek text for the first time in 1621. Stephanus did not publish it with his Latin translation either in 1562 or in 1569, nor was it published in the reprint of the latter in 1619.
Sextus'sOutlines were widely read inEurope during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and had a profound effect onMichel de Montaigne,David Hume andGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, among many others. Another source for the circulation of Sextus's ideas wasPierre Bayle'sDictionary. The legacy of Pyrrhonism is described inRichard Popkin'sThe History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes andHigh Road to Pyrrhonism. The transmission of Sextus's manuscripts through antiquity and the Middle Ages is reconstructed byLuciano Floridi'sSextus Empiricus, The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2002). Since the Renaissance, French philosophy has been continuously influenced by Sextus:Montaigne in the 16th century,Descartes,Blaise Pascal,Pierre-Daniel Huet andFrançois de La Mothe Le Vayer in the 17th century, many of the "Philosophes", and in recent times controversial figures such asMichel Onfray, in a direct line of filiation between Sextus' radical skepticism and secular or even radical atheism.[18]
Works by or aboutSextus Empiricus atWikisource
