Was Pyrrho Sceptic or Dogmatic?
Keywords:
Ancient Greek philosophy, scepticism, dogmatism, knowledge, suspension of judgmentAbstract
Pyrrho didn’t write anything except for a few poems, and those didn’t survive, so we have very few direct information about him. Nevertheless, his name is frequently mentioned in ancient, modern, and even contemporary philosophy. This is not without reason; around his name, a sceptical school known as Pyrrhonism emerged, and the term “Pyrrhonism” became synonymous with scepticism. According to the prevailing view, Pyrrhonism, along with Academic scepticism, is one of the two principal sceptical traditions of Hellenistic period. However, some modern scholars argue that Pyrrhonism was established much later, in 1st century a.d., by Aenesidemus, and it was further developed by philosophers such as Agrippa and Sextus Empiricus. Consequently, there is a longstanding debate in modern scholarship regarding the intellectual continuity between Pyrrho and Pyrrhonism. This debate has even led to this question: “Was Pyrrho himself a Pyrrhonist?” At the heart of the issue lies the question of whether Pyrrho was truly a sceptic or not. If Pyrrho was indeed a sceptical philosopher, then it follows that later Pyrrhonists drew inspiration from him and continued his philosophical legacy. However, if he was a dogmatist, then he must be excluded from the history of scepticism altogether. This article seeks to address a fundamental question which has emerged in modern discussions and which is considered central to the Pyrrho problem: Was Pyrrho a dogmatic philosopher who advanced positive or negative theses, or was he a sceptic who suspended judgment (epokhê)? [...]
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