School of thought

Pyrrhonism

Movement

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Classification

Period
c. 330 BCE - 200 CE
Regions
Europe (origin)
Domains
Epistemology

Overview

Pyrrhonism holds that for every argument an equally strong counter-argument can be found, and therefore the wise course is to suspend judgment (epoché) on every matter that is not evident, while still living by how things appear. Paradoxically, this suspension brings the very tranquility (ataraxia) that dogmatic philosophers seek through their theories.

Key ideas

  • Epoché: Suspension of judgment: when opposing arguments appear equally balanced, the Pyrrhonist neither affirms nor denies but suspends judgment on every non-evident matter, while still going along with how things appear.
  • The Ten Modes: Aenesidemus cataloged ten types of disagreement (cultural, perceptual, circumstantial) that leave the arguments on either side of a question balanced, so that suspension of judgment follows. The modes induce suspension; they do not prove that knowledge is impossible, which would itself be a dogma.
  • Ataraxia through Skepticism: Tranquility follows suspension of judgment as a shadow follows the body — when we stop insisting on dogmatic beliefs, anxiety dissolves.

Key figures

Pyrrho of Elis · Timon of Phlius · Sextus Empiricus · Aenesidemus

Methods used

Positions held

Influenced by

  • Atomism

    Drew on the Atomist emphasis on the unreliability of the senses; Pyrrho was a pupil of the Democritean Anaxarchus.

Reacts to

  • Stoicism

    The engagement is that of the later Pyrrhonists: Aenesidemus and Sextus Empiricus argued against the Stoics as dogmatists who claim to have found the truth, setting against that claim the skeptic who is still investigating and suspends judgment.

Later connections

  • British Empiricism Influenced by this tradition

    The early-modern revival of Pyrrhonian skepticism (via Sextus) sharpened empiricism's doubts about how far the senses warrant knowledge; Hume presented his own mitigated skepticism as, in part, the result of Pyrrhonian doubt corrected by common sense and reflection.

  • Continental Rationalism Reacted to this tradition

    Descartes' methodic doubt confronted the revived Pyrrhonian skepticism head-on, pushing doubt to its limit to reach an indubitable foundation that would answer it.

References

  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Ancient Skepticism
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Ancient Skepticism, §4.1; Diogenes Laertius, Lives IX.61–70 — Formation: Pyrrho's teaching and following at Elis after his travels.
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.8–10, 25–30
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.1–4
  • Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers IX.61 (Pyrrho as pupil of the Democritean Anaxarchus)
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.1–4 (the skeptics against the dogmatists)
  • Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.8–10
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Sextus Empiricus, §3.2
  • Outlines of Pyrrhonism — Sextus Empiricus
  • The Skeptic Way — Benson Mates