School of thought

Pyrrhonism

Movement

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Classification

Period
c. 330 BCE - 200 CE
Regions
europe
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 all matters of belief. 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 belief entirely.
  • The Ten Modes: Aenesidemus cataloged ten types of disagreement (cultural, perceptual, circumstantial) that demonstrate the impossibility of reaching certain knowledge about how things really are.
  • 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

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, culminating in Hume's mitigated skepticism.

  • 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