Mary Mills Patrick - Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism
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Mary Mills Patrick >> Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism
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Pyrrho, the founder of the school, taught in Elis, his native
village; but even as early as the time of Timon, his immediate
follower, his teachings were somewhat known in Alexandria, where
Timon for a while resided.[5] The immediate disciples of Timon,
as given by Diogenes, were not men known in Greece or mentioned
in Greek writings. Then we have the well-known testimony of
Aristocles the Peripatetic in regard to Aenesidemus, that he
taught Pyrrhonism in Alexandria[6]--[Greek: echthes kai proaen
en Alexandreia tae kat' Aigypton Ainaesidaemos tis anazopyrein
aerxato ton huthlon touton].
[1] Diog. XI. 12, 115, 116.
[2] _Hyp_. I. 5.
[3] _Hyp_. I. 36.
[4] _Hyp_. I. 164.
[5] Chaignet _Op. cit._ 45.
[6] Aristocles of Euseb. _Praep. Ev._ XIV. E. 446.
This was after the dogmatic tendency of the Academy under
Antiochus and his followers had driven Pyrrhonism from the
partial union with the Academy, which it had experienced after
the breaking up of the school under the immediate successors of
Timon. Aenesidemus taught about the time of our era in
Alexandria, and established the school there anew; and his
followers are spoken of in a way that presupposes their
continuing in the same place. There is every reason to think
that the connection of Sextus with Alexandria was an intimate
one, not only because Alexandria had been for so long a time the
seat of Pyrrhonism, but also from internal evidence from his
writings and their subsequent historical influence; and yet the
_Hypotyposes_ could not have been delivered in Alexandria, as he
often refers to that place in comparison with the place where he
was then speaking. He says, furthermore, that he teaches in the
same place where his master taught.[1] [Greek: Blepon te hoti
entha ho huphaegaetaes ho emos dielegeto, entautha ego nun
dialegomai]. Therefore the school must have been removed from
Alexandria, in or before the time of the teacher of Sextus, to
some other centre. The _Hypotyposes_ are from beginning to end a
direct attack on the Dogmatics; therefore Sextus must have
taught either in some city where the dogmatic philosophy was
strong, or in some rival philosophical centre. The _Hypotyposes_
show also that the writer had access to some large library.
Alexandria, Rome and Athens are the three places the most
probable for selection for such a purpose. For whatever reason
the seat of the school was removed from Alexandria by the master
of Sextus, or by himself, from the place where it had so long
been united with the Empirical School of medicine, Athens would
seem the most suitable city for its recontinuance, in the land
where Pyrrhonism first had its birth. Sextus, however, in one
instance, in referring to things invisible because of their
outward relations, says in illustration, "as the city of Athens
is invisible to us at present."[2] In other places also he
contrasts the Athenians with the people whom he is addressing,
equally with the Alexandrians, thus putting Athens as well as
Alexandria out of the question.
[1] _Hyp._ III. 120.
[2] _Hyp._ II. 98.
Of the different writers on Sextus Empiricus, those who have
treated this part of the subject most critically are Haas and
Pappenheim. We will therefore consider, somewhat at length, the
results presented by these two authors. Haas thinks that the
_Hypotyposes_ were delivered in Rome for the following reasons.
Sextus' lectures must have been given in some centre of
philosophical schools and of learning. He never opposes Roman
relations to those of the place where he is speaking, as he does
in regard to Athens and Alexandria. He uses the name "Romans"
only three times,[1] once comparing them to the Rhodians, once
to the Persians, and once in general to other nations.[2] In the
first two of these references, the expression "among the Romans"
in the first part of the antithesis is followed by the
expression, "among us," in the second part, which Haas
understands to be synonymous. The third reference is in regard
to a Roman law, and the use of the word 'Roman' does not at all
show that Sextus was not then in Rome. The character of the laws
referred to by Sextus as [Greek: par' haemin] shows that they
were always Roman laws, and his definition of law[3] is
especially a definition of Roman law. This argument might, it
would seem, apply to any part of the Roman Empire, but Haas
claims that the whole relation of law to custom as treated of by
Sextus, and all his statements of customs forbidden at that time
by law, point to Rome as the place of his residence. Further,
Haas considers the Herodotus mentioned by Galen[4] as a
prominent physician in Rome, to have been the predecessor and
master of Sextus, in whose place Sextus says that he is
teaching.[5] Haas also thinks that Sextus' refutation of the
identity of Pyrrhonism with Empiricism evidently refers to a
paragraph in Galen's _Subfiguratio Empirica_,[6] which would be
natural if the _Hypotyposes_ were written shortly after Galen's
_Sub. Em._, and in the same place. Further, Hippolytus, who
wrote in or near Rome very soon after the time of Sextus,
apparently used the _Hypotyposes_, which would be more natural
if he wrote in the same place. According to Haas, every thing in
internal evidence, and outward testimony, points to Rome as
having been the city where Sextus occupied his position as the
head of the Sceptical School.
[1] Haas _Op. cit._ p. 15.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 149, 152; III. 211.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 146.
[4] Galen _de puls._ IV. 11; Bd. VIII. 751.
[5] _Hyp_. III. 120.
[6] Galen _Sub. Em._ 123 B-126 D. (Basileae, 1542).
Coming now to the position of Pappenheim on this subject, we
find that he takes very decided ground against the seat of the
Sceptical School having been in Rome, even for a short time, in
his latest publication regarding it.[1] This opinion is the
result of late study on the part of Pappenheim, for in his work
on the _Lebensverhaeltnisse des Sextus Empiricus_ Berlin 1875, he
says, "Dass Herodotus in Rom lebte sagt Galen. Vermuthlich auch
Sextus." His reasons given in the later article for not
connecting the Sceptical School at all with Rome are as follows.
He finds no proof of the influence of Scepticism in Rome, as
Cicero remarks that Pyrrhonism is extinct,[2] and he also gives
weight to the well-known sarcastic saying of Seneca, _Quis est
qui tradat praecepta Pyrrhonis!_[3] While Haas claims that
Sextus would naturally seek one of the centres of dogmatism, in
order most effectively to combat it, Pappenheim, on the
contrary, contends that it would have been foolishness on the
part of Sextus to think of starting the Sceptical School in
Rome, where Stoicism was the favored philosophy of the Roman
Emperors; and when either for the possible reason of strife
between the Empirical and Methodical Schools, or for some other
cause, the Pyrrhonean School was removed from Alexandria,
Pappenheim claims that all testimony points to the conclusion
that it was founded in some city of the East. The name of Sextus
is never known in Roman literature, but in the East, on the
contrary, literature speaks for centuries of Sextus and Pyrrho.
The _Hypotyposes_, especially, were well-known in the East, and
references to Sextus are found there in philosophical and
religious dogmatic writings. The Emperor Julian makes use of the
works of Sextus, and he is frequently quoted by the Church
Fathers of the Eastern Church.[4] Pappenheim accordingly
concludes that the seat of Pyrrhonism after the school was
removed from Alexandria, was in some unknown city of the East.
[1] Pappenheim _Sitz der Skeptischen Schule. Archiv fuer
Geschichte der Phil._ 1888.
[2] Cicero _De Orat._ III. 17, 62.
[3] Seneca _nat. qu._ VII. 32. 2.
[4] Fabricius _de Sexto Empirico Testimonia_.
In estimating the weight of these arguments, we must accept with
Pappenheim the close connection of Pyrrhonism with Alexandria,
and the subsequent influence which it exerted upon the
literature of the East. All historical relations tend to fix the
permanent seat of Pyrrhonism, after its separation from the
Academy, in Alexandria. There is nothing to point to its removal
from Alexandria before the time of Menodotus, who is the teacher
of Herodotus,[1] and for many reasons to be considered the real
teacher of Sextus. It was Menodotus who perfected the Empirical
doctrines, and who brought about an official union between
Scepticism and Empiricism, and who gave Pyrrhonism in great
measure, the _eclat_ that it enjoyed in Alexandria, and who
appears to have been the most powerful influence in the school,
from the time of Aenesidemus to that of Sextus. Furthermore,
Sextus' familiarity with Alexandrian customs bears the imprint
of original knowledge, and he cannot, as Zeller implies, be
accepted as simply quoting. One could hardly agree with
Zeller,[2] that the familiarity shown by Sextus with the customs
of both Alexandria and Rome in the _Hypotyposes_ does not
necessarily show that he ever lived in either of those places,
because a large part of his works are compilations from other
books; but on the contrary, the careful reader of Sextus' works
must find in all of them much evidence of personal knowledge of
Alexandria, Athens and Rome.
[1] Diog. IX. 12, 116.
[2] Zeller _Op. cit._ III. p. 39.
A part of Sextus' books also may have been written in
Alexandria. [Greek: Pros phusikous] could have been written in
Alexandria.[1] If these were also lectures, then Sextus taught
in Alexandria as well as elsewhere. The history of Eastern
literature for the centuries immediately following the time of
Sextus, showing as it does in so many instances the influence of
Pyrrhonism, and a knowledge of the _Hypotyposes_, furnishes us
with an incontestable proof that the school could not have been
for a long time removed from the East, and the absence of such
knowledge in Roman literature is also a strong argument against
its long continuance in that city. It would seem, however, from
all the data at command, that during the years that the
Sceptical School was removed from Alexandria, its head quarters
were in Rome, and that the Pyrrhonean _Hypotyposes_ were
delivered in Rome. Let us briefly consider the arguments in
favour of such a hypothesis. Scepticism was not unknown in Rome.
Pappenheim quotes the remark of Cicero that Pyrrhonism was long
since dead, and the sarcasm of Seneca, _Quis est qui tradat
praecepta Pyrrhonis?_ as an argument against the knowledge of
Pyrrhonism in Rome. We must remember, however, that in Cicero's
time Aenesidemus had not yet separated himself from the Academy;
or if we consider the Lucius Tubero to whom Aenesidemus
dedicated his works, as the same Lucius Tubero who was the
friend of Cicero in his youth, and accordingly fix the date of
Aenesidemus about 50 B.C.,[2] even then Aenesidemus' work in
Alexandria was too late to have necessarily been known to
Cicero, whose remark must have been referred to the old school
of Scepticism. Should we grant, however, that the statements of
Cicero and Seneca prove that in their time Pyrrhonism was
extinct in Rome, they certainly do not show that after their
death it could not have again revived, for the _Hypotyposes_
were delivered more than a century after the death of Seneca.
There are very few writers in Aenesidemus' own time who showed
any influence of his teachings.[3] This influence was felt
later, as Pyrrhonism became better known. That Pyrrhonism
received some attention in Rome before the time of Sextus is
nevertheless demonstrated by the teachings of Favorinus there.
Although Favorinus was known as an Academician, the title of his
principal work was [Greek: tous philosophoumenous auto ton
logon, hon aristoi hoi Purrhoneioi].[4] Suidas calls Favorinus a
great author and learned in all science and philosophy,[5] and
Favorinus made Rome the centre of his teaching and writing. His
date is fixed by Zeller at 80-150 A.D., therefore Pyrrhonism was
known in Rome shortly before the time of Sextus.
[1] Pappenheim _Sitz der Skeptischen Schule; Archiv fuer
Geschichte der Phil._, 1888; _Adv. Math._ X. 15, 95.
[2] Zeller _Op. cit._ III. 10.
[3] Zeller _Op. cit._ p. 63.
[4] Zeller _Op. cit._ p. 67.
[5] Brochard _Op. cit._ 329.
The whole tone of the _Hypotyposes_, with the constant
references to the Stoics as living present opponents, shows that
these lectures must have been delivered in one of the centres of
Stoicism. As Alexandria and Athens are out of the question, all
testimony points to Rome as having been the seat of the
Pyrrhonean School, for at least a part of the time that Sextus
was at its head. We would then accept the teacher of Sextus, in
whose place he says he taught, as the Herodotus so often
referred to by Galen[1] who lived in Rome. Sextus' frequent
references to Asclepiades, whom he mentions ten different times
by name in his works,[2] speak in favour of Rome in the matter
under discussion, as Asclepiades made that city one of the
centres of medical culture. On the other hand, the fact that
there is no trace of the _Hypotyposes_ in later Roman
literature, with the one exception of the works of Hippolytus,
as opposed to the wide-spread knowledge of them shown in the
East for centuries, is incontestable historical proof that the
Sceptical School could not long have had its seat at Rome. From
the two passages given above from Sextus' work against physics,
he must either have written that book in Alexandria, it would
seem, or have quoted those passages from some other work. May we
not then conclude, that Sextus was at the head of the school in
Rome for a short time, where it may have been removed
temporarily, on account of the difficulty with the Empiricists,
implied in _Hyp_. I. 236-241, or in order to be better able to
attack the Stoics, but that he also taught in Alexandria, where
the real home of the school was certainly found? There it
probably came to an end about fifty years after the time of
Sextus, and from that centre the Sceptical works of Sextus had
their wide-spread influence in the East.
[1] Galen VIII. 751.
[2] Bekker _Index_.
The books of Sextus Empiricus furnish us with the best and
fullest presentation of ancient Scepticism which has been
preserved to modern times, and give Sextus the position of one
of the greatest men of the Sceptical School. His works which are
still extant are the _Pyrrhonean Hypotyposes_ in three volumes,
and the two works comprising eleven books which have been united
in later times under the title of [Greek: pros mathematikous],
one of which is directed against the sciences in general, and
the other against the dogmatic philosophers. The six books
composing the first of these are written respectively against
grammarians, rhetoricians, geometricians, arithmeticians,
astronomers and musicians. The five books of the latter consist
of two against the logicians, two against physics, and one
against systems of morals. If the last short work of the first
book directed against the arithmeticians is combined with the
one preceding against the geometricians, as it well could be,
the two works together would be divided into ten different
parts; there is evidence to show that in ancient times such a
division was made.[1] There were two other works of Sextus which
are now lost, the medical work before referred to, and a book
entitled [Greek: peri psuches]. The character of the extant
works of Sextus is similar, as they are all directed either
against science or against the dogmatics, and they all present
the negative side of Pyrrhonism. The vast array of arguments
comprising the subject-matter, often repeated in the same and
different forms, are evidently taken largely from the Sceptical
works which Sextus had resource to, and are, in fact, a summing
up of all the wisdom of the Sceptical School. The style of these
books is fluent, and the Greek reminds one of Plutarch and
Thucydides, and although Sextus does not claim originality, but
presents in all cases the arguments of the Sceptic, yet the
illustrations and the form in which the arguments are presented,
often bear the marks of his own thought, and are characterized
here and there by a wealth of humor that has not been
sufficiently noticed in the critical works on Sextus. Of all the
authors who have reviewed Sextus, Brochard is the only one who
seems to have understood and appreciated his humorous side.
We shall now proceed to the consideration of the general
position and aim of Pyrrhonism.
[1] Diog. IX. 12, 116.
CHAPTER II.
_The Position and Aim of Pyrrhonism_.
The first volume of the _Pyrrhonean Hypotyposes_ gives the most
complete statement found in any of the works of Sextus Empiricus
of the teachings of Pyrrhonism and its relation to other schools
of philosophy. The chief source of the subject-matter presented
is a work of the same name by Aenesidemus,[1] either directly
used by Sextus, or through the writings of those who followed
Aenesidemus. The comprehensive title [Greek: Purrhoneioi
hupotuposeis] was very probably used in general to designate
courses of lectures given by the leaders of the Sceptical
School.
In the opening chapters of the _Hypotyposes_ Sextus undertakes
to define the position and aim of Pyrrhonism.[2] In introducing
his subject he treats briefly of the differences between
philosophical schools, dividing them into three classes; those
which claim that they have found the truth, like the schools of
Aristotle and Epicurus and the Stoics; those which deny the
possibility of finding it, like that of the Academicians; and
those that still seek it, like the Sceptical School. The
accusation against the Academicians, that they denied the
possibility of finding the truth, was one that the Sceptics were
very fond of making. We shall discuss the justice of it later,
simply remarking here, that to affirm the "incomprehensibility
of the unknown," was a form of expression that the Pyrrhonists
themselves were sometimes betrayed into, notwithstanding their
careful avoidance of dogmatic statements.[3]
[1] Diog. IX. 11, 78.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 3, 4.
[3] _Adv. Math._ VIII. 191.
After defining the three kinds of philosophy as the Dogmatic,
the Academic and the Sceptic, Sextus reminds his hearers that he
does not speak dogmatically in anything that he says, but that
he intends simply to present the Sceptical arguments
historically, and as they appear to him. He characterizes his
treatment of the subject as general rather than critical,
including a statement of the character of Scepticism, its idea,
its principles, its manner of reasoning, its criterion and aim,
and a presentation of the Tropes, or aspects of doubt, and the
Sceptical formulae and the distinction between Scepticism and
the related schools of philosophy.[1]
The result of all the gradual changes which the development of
thought had brought about in the outward relations of the
Sceptical School, was to increase the earnestness of the claim
of the Sceptics to be simply followers of Pyrrho, the great
founder of the movement. In discussing the names given to the
Sceptics, Sextus gives precedence very decidedly to the title
"Pyrrhonean," because Pyrrho appears the best representative of
Scepticism, and more prominent than all who before him occupied
themselves with it.[2]
It was a question much discussed among philosophers in ancient
times, whether Pyrrhonism should be considered a philosophical
sect or not. Thus we find that Hippobotus in his work entitled
[Greek: peri haireseon], written shortly before our era, does
not include Pyrrhonism among the other sects.[3] Diogenes
himself, after some hesitation remarking that many do not
consider it a sect, finally decides to call it so.[4]
[1] _Hyp._ I. 5, 6.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 7.
[3] Diog. _Pro._ 19.
[4] Diog. _Pro._ 20.
Sextus in discussing this subject calls Scepticism an [Greek:
agoge], or a movement, rather than a [Greek: hairesis], saying
that Scepticism is not a sect, if that word implies a systematic
arrangement of dogmas, for the Sceptic has no dogmas. If,
however, a sect may mean simply the following of a certain
system of reasoning according to what appears to be true, then
Scepticism is a sect.[1] From a quotation given later on by
Sextus from Aenesidemus, we know that the latter used the term
[Greek: agoge].[2] Sextus gives also the other titles, so well
known as having been applied to Scepticism, namely, [Greek:
zetetike], [Greek: ephektike], and [Greek: aporetike].[3] The
[Greek: dunamis][4] of Scepticism is to oppose the things of
sense and intellect in every possible way to each other, and
through the equal weight of things opposed, or [Greek:
isostheneia], to reach first the state of suspension of
judgement, and afterwards ataraxia, or "repose and tranquillity
of soul."[5] The purpose of Scepticism is then the hope of
ataraxia, and its origin was in the troubled state of mind
induced by the inequality of things, and uncertainty in regard
to the truth. Therefore, says Sextus, men of the greatest talent
began the Sceptical system by placing in opposition to every
argument an equal one, thus leading to a philosophical system
without a dogma, for the Sceptic claims that he has no dogma.[6]
The Sceptic is never supposed to state a decided opinion, but
only to say what appears to him. Even the Sceptical formulae,
such as "Nothing more,"[7] or "I decide nothing,"[8] or "All is
false," include themselves with other things. The only
statements that the Sceptic can make, are in regard to his own
sensations. He cannot deny that he is warm or cold or hungry.
[1] _Hyp._ I. 15, 17.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 210.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 7; Diog. IX. 11, 70.
[4] _Hyp._ I. 8.
[5] _Hyp._ I. 10.
[6] _Hyp._ I. 12.
[7] _Hyp._ I. 14.
[8] _Hyp._ I. 14.
Sextus replies to the charge that the Sceptics deny phenomena by
refuting it.[1] The Sceptic does not deny phenomena, because
they are the only criteria by which he can regulate his actions.
"We call the criterion of the Sceptical School the phenomenon,
meaning by this name the idea of it."[2] Phenomena are the only
things which the Sceptic does not deny, and he guides his life
by them. They are, however, subjective. Sextus distinctly
affirms that sensations are the phenomena,[3] and that they lie
in susceptibility and voluntary feeling, and that they
constitute the appearances of objects.[4] We see from this that
Sextus makes the only reality to consist in subjective
experience, but he does not follow this to its logical
conclusion, and doubt the existence of anything outside of mind.
He rather takes for granted that there is a something unknown
outside, about which the Sceptic can make no assertions.
Phenomena are the criteria according to which the Sceptic orders
his daily life, as he cannot be entirely inactive, and they
affect life in four different ways. They constitute the guidance
of nature, the impulse of feeling; they give rise to the
traditions of customs and laws, and make the teaching of the
arts important.[5] According to the tradition of laws and
customs, piety is a good in daily life, but it is not in itself
an abstract good. The Sceptic of Sextus' time also inculcated
the teaching of the arts, as indeed must be the case with
professing physicians, as most of the leading Sceptics were.
Sextus says, "We are not without energy in the arts which we
undertake."[6] This was a positive tendency which no philosophy,
however negative, could escape, and the Sceptic tried to avoid
inconsistency in this respect, by separating his philosophy from
his theory of life. His philosophy controlled his opinions, and
his life was governed by phenomena.
[1] _Hyp._ I. 19.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 19.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 22; Diog. IX. 11, 105.
[4] _Hyp._ I. 22.
[5] _Hyp._ I. 23.
[6] _Hyp._ I. 24.
The aim of Pyrrhonism was ataraxia in those things which pertain
to opinion, and moderation in the things which life imposes.[1]
In other words, we find here the same natural desire of the
human being to rise above and beyond the limitations which pain
and passion impose, which is expressed in other forms, and under
other names, in other schools of philosophy. The method,
however, by which ataraxia or peace of mind could be reached,
was peculiar to the Sceptic. It is a state of psychological
equilibrium, which results from the equality of the weight of
different arguments that are opposed to each other, and the
consequent impossibility of affirming in regard to either one,
that it is correct.[2] The discovery of ataraxia was, in the
first instance, apparently accidental, for while the Sceptic
withheld his opinion, unable to decide what things were true,
and what things were false, ataraxia fortunately followed.[3]
After he had begun to philosophize, with a desire to
discriminate in regard to ideas, and to separate the true from
the false[4] during the time of [Greek: epoche], or suspension
of judgement, ataraxia followed as if by chance, as the shadow
follows the body.[5]
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