Outlines of Pyrrhonism

by Sextus Empiricus

Book Overview

Throughout history philosophers have sought to define, understand, and delineate concepts important to human well-being. One such concept is "knowledge." Many philosophers believed that absolute, certain knowledge, is possible-that the physical world and ideas formulated about it could be given solid foundation unaffected by the varieties of mere opinion.Sextus Empiricus stands as an example of the "skeptic" school of thought whose members believed...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879755970
• ISBN13: 9780879755973
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Not a Sceptical Review

Sextus Empiricus reveals the Sceptic m.o. of seeking opposing arguments with equal likelihood, resulting in tranquility of mind resting in indecision. Dogmatists, he states, are the ones who cannot live the blessed life; not finding equilibrium in indecision. Most readers will likely not buy that argument along with quite a few other opposing arguments presented as being equally likely. Empiricus still gives a lot of quality arguments from a unique perspective of thought. The book is a recommended read for its historical and novel thought process. The book is intellectually stimulating and at times even humorous - for example the time when a Cynic debates a Sceptic over motion: "One of the Cynics, when the argument against motion was propounded [from a Sceptic], gave no answer but stood up and walked away, establishing by his action and evidently that motion is real." Not being exposed previously to first hand Sceptic reasoning I was pleasantly surprised by its legitimate ideas and entertainment value. I believe those interested in history and philosophy will also feel the better for reading the book.

Review based on a French Edition and Translation

As my title implies, I did not read this very book, but I did read Sextus Empiricus' text, only in a French edition and translation. This text was very important in the history of philosophy and modern thought in that, I believe, it is one of the few "textbooks" of ancient skepticism. Personally, of the three books that constitute the "outlines of Scepticism" (as this here edition has it "Pyrrhonian Outlines would be a better translation, but they have a point in that Pyrrho and the philosophy described by Sextus aren't quite as similar as one would be led to believe) I preferred the first; mainly because the second and third are redundant and not always very reader-friendly. Quite frankly, I spent quite a few pages reading and not understanding a single thing that was said. When Sextus goes on to explain how basically nothing can be despite obvious observations (acknowledged by skeptics), well, I'm not too convinced. But that is still way better than most ancient philosophy which were nice fantasies (sometimes) and which are attacked by Sextus; so I appreciated that. Skepticism is a very interesting philosophical movement, and I wish Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus were as known as Socrates and Plato (in whose roles they perfectly fit: Pyrrho never wrote anything and Sextus is the one who writes it down in a book). Recommend to anyone who is interested in getting to the texts themselves; but beware of the second and third books: you may want to stick to the first.

The Best In-Print Translation

This is a classic and priceless work. Along with the other extant works of S.E. it remains virtually the only surviving record of teachings attributed to the very influential 4th c. B.C.E. philosopher Pyrrho of Elis. As such, the book preserves a now largely forgotten body of thought that rivals anything produced in the same vein since. I think there is nothing -- except a lot of multisyllabic obfuscation -- in the works of the phenomenologists, the existentialists, or the usually uneducated and thoughtless so-called "postmodernists" that can't be found in ancient skepticism.I think this particular translation is also the best for most readers. (If you are a serious scholar and can read the Greek yourself, then you are a better judge than I of whether it's a good translation. What I mean is that it is the most accessible for modern readers.) Numerous other translations are available and several are in print. Annas & Barnes, however, both noted classics scholars and both persons who deeply understand and seem sympathetic to the ancient skeptics, have set out a translation very accessible to modern English readers. They have also set out copious notes and cross references that are very useful to more serious readers. The previous reviewer from Colorado, incidentally, is off the mark on a few things. First, I doubt that S.E. was really interested that much in "truth." Though he may sometimes say or imply that that is his aim, I think he does so in a catty or coy way. I think he never thought he was going to find the truth; rather, he knew before he started writing that the skeptic simply cannot be answered -- there is no argument the skeptic cannot pick apart. As S.E. -- a professional doctor -- repeatedly says, skeptical arguments are like a doctor's medicine. They go in and dissolve the patient's illness, and then flow out with it to be disposed of. In other words, the skeptic argues not to discover truth, but only to dissect illusions.Moreover, in the spirit of full disclosure, S.E. is not as timely as the Colorado review implies. S.E. nowhere mentions God, contrary to what the previous review suggests, and is not in this book concerned with scientists as such. Rather, he attacks the prevailing *philosophical* schools of his day, namely the Stoics, the still-lingering corpse of the Academy, and a group he calls the Peripatetics (meaning Aristotelians). This book is largely a technical manual of arguments to be made in response to the arguments of those other groups, which in turn are technical themselves.That is not to say that this is not a fascinating book. For example, how interesting it is that S.E. solves riddles that would so traumatized Sartre and Camus 2000 years later!

Throw Away your Foucault, Derrida, Heiddegger, Etc.

This book explains a very thoughtful, rigorously worked out consideration of the following perplexing observation, which is one I think we all share: "I do not seem to know anything for certain." By having so carefully considered this issue, I believe that this ancient book represents a coherent and complete answer to the predicaments that modern skeptics so worry and strain themselves over; for example, it achieves Sartre's own goal, which was to "work out a coherent atheism," and did so 2000 years before Sartre was born. The Outlines, like the other extant works of Sextus Empiricus, is largely a recording of teachings attributed to a Greek philosopher of the 4th c. B.C. named Pyrrho of Elis. Pyrrho is a shadowy figure and himself left no extant writings, but is believed by longstanding rumor (preserved most quote-ably by the Roman historian Diogenes Laertius) to have been influenced by Buddhism during his travels with Alexander the Great to India. Pyrrho's thought influenced middle and later phases of Plato's Academy and flourished there for some centuries, where it was intensely worked and re-worked. Indeed, Pyrrho's thought ultimately exerted such great influence in classical civilization that his name became synonomous with the modern technical meaning of the word "skepticism" (in fact, the title of this work, which in Greek is "Pyrrhoniae Hypothesi," is sometimes translated as "Outlines of Skepticism").Ancient skepticism fell into obscurity following the fall of Rome and languished in obscurity for nearly a millennium. Fortunatley, however, the works of Sextus were rediscovered during the Italian Renaissance and from there enjoyed wide attention in Europe for some centuries, impacting the works of such notable figures as Montaigne and Walter Raleigh. Nevertheless, ancient skepticism again fell out of academic view in more recent times. This is peculiar and unfortunate; this body of thought was no less influential than Platonic, Aristotelian, and other classical movements now effectively canonized in Western culture and was kept well in the forefront of academic thought for many centuries, but is now largely a curiosity seriously studied only by specialist philosophers and classics scholars.What is most interesting to me about ancient skepticism is that I think everything that could possibly be said by modern doubters -- the phenomenologists, the existentialists, the mass of usually unthinking and poorly educated oafs who call themselves postmodernists -- was already said by the ancients. Indeed, the absolutely key points that a doubter must make in order to render his doubts even coherent all appear in the Outlines, in my opinion, and I see nothing in the supposedly radical works of modern day doubters that is really more radical than what is contained in Sextus.Finally, there is no better introduction to ancient skepticism than the Outlines. Sextus is unbelievably straightforward and easy to understand, especially if you have any experienc

A masterpiece on the study of knowledge.

Many books have been written on skepticism. But this one is the best. The author not only outlines what skepticism is,but spares nothing from skepticism. This is a refreshing outlook from the skeptical books published recently that link skepticism and anti-god,psychic powers, and so forth. A skeptic is really a wise man who calls all claims into question including those of scientists and other skeptics. His only goal is truth. Something that the majority of so called "skeptics" today know very little about. This book is not biased, and clearly shows how a true skeptic thinks. Rather than being the kill joy of so many people, the book shows that the true skeptic is not a cynic, but rather a sincere individual who loves truth. This is why so many views on God, dogmatism, and so forth are attacked in the book. The skeptic is intrested in seeing how the claims to truth stand up to his attacks. This book focuses on dogmatism in many subjects. This is the center of the skeptics attacks. We see that many views do not hold up to the skeptics critiques, this includes ironically the views of scientists and other philosophers. This is a classic book and deserves every bit of praise. I loved it .