the two centuries since the time of Aenesidemus had made plain.
Aenesidemus was too positive a character to admit of absolute
Sceptical consistency. He was nevertheless the greatest thinker
the Sceptical School had known since the age of Pyrrho, its
founder. In claiming a union between Pyrrhonism and the philosophy of Heraclitus, he recognised also the pre-Socratic
tendency of the Sceptical School. The name of Socrates was all
powerful in the Academy, but Aenesidemus comprehended the fact
that the true spirit of Pyrrhonism was of earlier origin than
the Academic Scepsis.
CHAPTER V.
_Critical Examination of Pyrrhonism_.
The distinct philosophical movement of which Pyrrho was the
author bore his name for five centuries after his death.
It had
an acknowledged existence as a philosophical tendency, if indeed
not a sect, for a great part of that time. Yet, when we carefully analyse the relation of Pyrrhonism, as presented to us
by Sextus, to the teachings of Pyrrho himself, in so far as they
can be known, we find many things in Pyrrhonism for which Pyrrho
was not responsible.
The foundation elements of the movement, the spirit of Empirical
doubt that lay underneath and caused its development in certain
directions rather than others, are due to Pyrrho. The methods of
the school, however, were very foreign to anything found in the
life or teachings of Pyrrho. Pyrrho was eminently a moralist. He
was also to a great degree an ascetic, and he lived his philosophy, giving it thus a positive side wanting in the
Pyrrhonism presented to us by Sextus. Timon represents him as
desiring to escape from the tedious philosophical discussions of
his time--
[Greek:
ô geron ô Purrhôn, pôs ê pothen ekdusin heures latreiês doxôn te kenophrosunês te sophistôn;]
and again he speaks of his modest and tranquil life--
[Greek:
touto moi, ô Purrhôn, himeiretai êtor akousai pôs pot' anêr et' ageis panta meth' hêsuchiês mounos d'anthrôpoisi theou tropon hêgemoneueis
..... phêista meth' hêsuchiês
aiei aphrontistôs kai akinêtôs kata tauta mê prosech' indalmois hêdulogou sophiês.][1]
Pyrrho wished more than anything else to live in peace, and his
dislike of the Sophists[2] may well have made him try to avoid
dialectic; while, on the contrary, in the Pyrrhonean School of
later times discussion was one of the principal methods of
contest, at least after the time of Agrippa. Pyrrhonism seems to
have been originally a theory of life, like the philosophy of
Socrates, to whom Pyrrho is often compared,[3] and Pyrrho, like
Socrates, lived his philosophy. Our knowledge of Pyrrho is
gained from Aristocles, Sextus Empiricus, and Diogenes, and from
the Academic traditions given by Cicero. Diogenes gives us
details of his life which he attributes to Antigonus of Carystius, who lived about the time of Pyrrho.[4] Pyrrho was a
disciple and admirer of Democritus,[5] some of whose teachings
bore a lasting influence over the subsequent development of
Pyrrhonism. He accompanied Alexander the Great to India, where
he remained as a member of his suite for some time, and the
philosophical ideas of India were not without influence on his
teachings. Oriental philosophy was not unknown in Greece long
before the time of Pyrrho, but his personal contact with the
Magi and the Gymnosophists of the far East, apparently impressed
upon his mind teachings for which he was not unprepared by his
previous study and natural disposition. In his indifference to
worldly goods we find a strong trace of the Buddhistic teaching
regarding the vanity of human life. He showed also a similar
hopelessness in regard to the possibility of finding a satisfactory philosophy, or absolute truth. He evidently returned from India with the conviction that truth was not to be
attained.[6]
[1] Diog. IX. 11, 65. Given from Mullach's edition of
Timon by Brochard, _Pyrrhon et le Scepticism primitive_,
p. 525.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 69.
[3] Lewes _Op. cit._ p. 460.
[4] Diog. IX. 11, 62.
[5] Diog. IX. 11, 67.
[6] Compare Maccoll _Op. cit._
After the death of Alexander and Pyrrho's return to Greece, he
lived quietly with his sister at Elis, and Diogenes says that he
was consistent in his life, asserting and denying nothing, but
in everything withholding his opinion, as nothing in itself is
good or shameful, just or unjust.[1] He was not a victim of
false pride, but sold animals in the market place, and, if
necessary, washed the utensils himself.[2] He lived in equality
of spirit, and practised his teachings with serenity. If one
went out while he was talking he paid no attention, but went
calmly on with his remarks.[3] He liked to live alone, and to
travel alone, and on one occasion, being knocked about in a
vessel by a storm at sea, he did not lose his imperturbability,
but pointed to a swine calmly eating on board, and said that the
wise man should have as much calmness of soul as that.
He
endured difficult surgical operations with indifference,[4] and
when his friend Anaxarchus was once unfortunate enough to fall
into a morass, he went calmly by without stopping to help him,
for which consistency of conduct Anaxarchus afterwards praised
him. There are two instances given by Diogenes when he lost
control of himself; once in getting angry with his sister, and
once in trying to save himself when chased by a dog.
When
accused of inconsistency, he said it was difficult to entirely
give up one's humanity.[5] He was greatly venerated by the
people among whom he lived, who made him high priest, and on his
account exempted all philosophers from taxation,[6] and after
his death erected a statue to his memory. These facts testify to
his moral character, and also to fulfil the functions of high
priest a certain amount of dogmatism must have been necessary.
[1] Diog. IX. 11, 61, 62.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 66.
[3] Diog. IX. 11, 63.
[4] Diog. IX. 11, 67.
[5] Diog. IX. 11, 66.
[6] Diog. IX. 11, 64.
According to Diogenes, "We cannot know," said Pyrrho,
"what
things are in themselves, either by sensation or by judgment,
and, as we cannot distinguish the true from the false, therefore
we should live impassively, and without an opinion." The term
[Greek: epochê], so characteristic of Pyrrhonism, goes back,
according to Diogenes, to the time of Pyrrho.[1] Nothing is, in
itself, one thing more than another, but all experience is
related to phenomena, and no knowledge is possible through the
senses.[2] Pyrrho's aim was [Greek: ataraxia] and his life
furnished a marked example of the spirit of indifference, for
which the expression [Greek: apatheia] is better suited than the
later one, [Greek: ataraxia]. The description of his life with
his sister confirms this, where the term [Greek: adiaphoria] is
used to describe his conduct.[3] He founded his Scepticism on
the equivalence of opposing arguments.[4]
[1] Diog. IX. 11, 61.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 61-62.
[3] Diog. IX. 11. 66.
[4] Diog. IX. 11. 106.
The picture given of Pyrrho by Cicero is entirely different from
that of Diogenes, and contrasts decidedly with it.[1]
Cicero
knows Pyrrho as a severe moralist, not as a Sceptic.
Both
authors attribute to Pyrrho the doctrine of indifference and
apathy, but, according to Cicero, Pyrrho taught of virtue,
honesty, and the _summum bonum_, while Diogenes plainly tells us
that he considered nothing as good in itself, "and of all things
nothing as true."[2] Cicero does not once allude to Pyrrhonean
doubt. We see on the one hand, in Cicero's idea of Pyrrho, the
influence of the Academy, perhaps even of Antiochus himself,[3]
which probably colored the representations given of Pyrrho; but,
on the other hand, there is much in Diogenes' account of Pyrrho's life and teachings, and in the writings of Timon, which
shows us the positive side of Pyrrho. Pyrrho, in denying the
possibility of all knowledge, made that rather a motive for
indifference in the relations of life, than the foundation
thought of a philosophical system. His teaching has a decided
ethical side, showing in that respect the strong influence of
Democritus over him, who, like Pyrrho, made happiness to consist
in a state of feeling.[4] The one motive of all of Pyrrho's
teaching is a positive one, the desire for happiness.
[1] _De orat._ III, 62.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 61.
[3] Compare Natorp _Op. cit._ p. 71.
[4] Zeller _Grundriss der Griechischen Phil._ p. 70.
The essence of Pyrrhonism as given by Timon is as follows:[1]
Man desires to be happy. To realise his desire he must consider
three things:
(i) What is the nature of things?
(ii) How should man conduct himself in relation to them?
(iii) What is the result to him of this relation?
The nature of things is unknown. Our relation to them must be
one of suspension of judgment, without activity, desire, or
belief,--that is, an entirely negative relation. The result is
that state of having no opinion, called [Greek: epochê], which
is followed in turn by [Greek: ataraxia].
[1] Aristocles _ap. Eusebium Praep. Ev._ XIV. 18.
[1]The problem of philosophy is here proposed very nearly in the
terms of Kant, but not with the positive motive, like that of
the great philosopher of Germany, of evolving a system to
present the truth. Yet the importance of these questions shows
the originality of Pyrrho. The earnestness of Pyrrho is further
shown by an example given by Diogenes. Once on being found
talking to himself alone, he said, when asked the reason, that
he was meditating how to become a good man ([Greek: chrêstos]),[2] thus showing an entirely different spirit from
anything found in Sextus' books. The explanation of his life and
teachings is to be found largely in his own disposition.
Such an
attitude of indifference must belong to a placid nature, and
cannot be entirely the result of a philosophical system, and,
while it can be aimed at, it can never be perfectly imitated.
One of his disciples recognised this, and said that it was
necessary to have the disposition of Pyrrho in order to hold his
doctrines.[3] Diogenes tells us that he was the first to advance
any formulae of Scepticism,[4] but they must have been very
elementary, as Pyrrho himself wrote nothing. We find no trace of
formulated Tropes in Pyrrho's teachings, yet it is probable that
he indicated some of the contradictions in sensation, and
possibly the Tropes in some rudimentary form. Of the large
number of sceptical formulae, or [Greek: phônai], the three
which seem to have the oldest connection with Scepticism are the
[Greek: antilogia], the [Greek: ouden horizô], and the
[Greek:
ou mallon].[5] We know from Diogenes that Protagoras is the
authority for saying that in regard to everything there are two
opposing arguments.[6] The saying "to determine nothing"
is
quoted from Timon's _Python_ by Diogenes,[7] and the other two
mentioned are also attributed to him by Aristocles.[8]
We have
also in the [Greek: ou mallon] a direct connection with Democritus, although the difference in the meaning which he
attributed to it is shown by Sextus.[9] So while the expression
is the same, the explanation of it given by Pyrrho must have
been different. It would seem probable that Pyrrho used all of
these three sayings, from the account of Diogenes, and that even
then they gave rise to the accusation of the Dogmatics, that
simply by possessing such sayings the Sceptics dogmatised,[10]
for the refutation of this used by Sextus occurs in the old
account of the sayings, namely, that these formulae include also
themselves in the meaning, as a cathartic removes itself together with other harmful objects.[11]
[1] Compare Maccoll _Op. cit._ p. 21.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 64.
[3] Diog. IX. 11, 70, 64.
[4] Diog. IX. 11, 69; IX. 11, 61.
[5] _Hyp._ I. 202; Diog. IX. 8, 51; _Photius_
Bekker's ed.
280 H.
[6] _Photius_ Bekker's ed. 280 H.
[7] _Hyp._ I. 197; Diog. IX. 11, 76.
[8] _Aristocles ap. Eusebium, Praep. Ev._ XIV. 18.
[9] _Hyp._ I. 213.
[10] Diog. IX. 11, 68-76.
[11] Diog. IX. 11, 76; _Hyp._ I. 206.
In comparing the later Pyrrhonism with the teachings of Pyrrho,
we would sharply contrast the moral attitude of the two.
With
Pyrrho equilibrium of soul was a means to be applied to his
positive theory of life; with the later Pyrrhoneans it was the
end to be attained. We would attribute, however, the empirical
tendency shown during the whole history of Pyrrhonism to Pyrrho
as its originator. He was an empirical philosopher, and the
result of his influence in this respect, as seen in the subsequent development of the school, stands in marked contrast
to the dialectic spirit of the Academic Scepsis. The empiricism
of the school is shown in its scientific lore, in the fact that
so many of the Sceptics were physicians, and in the character of
the ten Tropes of [Greek: epochê]. We may safely affirm that
the foundation principles of Pyrrhonism are due to Pyrrho, and
the originality which gave the school its power. The elaborated
arguments, however, and the details of its formulae belong to
later times.
Coming now to the relation of Pyrrhonism to the Academy, the
connection between the two is difficult to exactly determine,
between the time of Pyrrho and that of Aenesidemus.
Scepticism
in the Academy was, however, never absolutely identical with
Pyrrhonism, although at certain periods of the history of the
Academy the difference was slight. We can trace throughout the
evolution of doubt, as shown to us in Pyrrhonism, and in Academic Scepticism, the different results which followed the
difference in origin of the two movements, and these differences
followed according to general laws of development of thought.
Arcesilaus, who introduced doubt into the Academy, claimed to
return to the dialectic of Socrates, and suppressing the lectures,[1] which were the method of teaching in the later
schools of philosophy, introduced discussions instead, as being
more decidedly a Socratic method. Although, according to Sextus,
he was the one leader of the Academy whose Scepticism most
nearly approached that of Pyrrhonism,[2] yet underneath his
whole teaching lay that dialectic principle so thoroughly in
opposition to the empiricism of Pyrrho. The belief of Socrates
and Plato in the existence of absolute truth never entirely lost
its influence over the Academy, but was like a hidden germ,
destined to reappear after Scepticism had passed away.
It
finally led the Academy back to Dogmatism, and prepared the way
for the Eclecticism with which it disappeared from history.
[1] Compare Maccoll _Op. cit._ p. 36.
[2] _Hyp_. I. 232.
The history of Pyrrhonism and that of Academic Scepticism were
for a time contemporaneous. The immediate follower of Pyrrho,
Timon, called by Sextus the "prophet of Pyrrho,"[1] was a
contemporary of Arcesilaus. That he did not consider the Scepticism of the Academy identical with Pyrrhonism is proved
from the fact that he did not himself join the Academy, but was,
on the contrary, far from doing so. That he regarded Arcesilaus
as a Dogmatic is evident from his writings.[2] One day, on
seeing the chief of the Academy approaching, he cried out, "What
are you doing here among us who are free?"[3] After the death of
Timon, the Pyrrhonean School had no representative till the time
of Ptolemy of Cyrene,[4] and Greek Scepticism was represented by
the Academy. That Pyrrho had a strong influence over Arcesilaus,
the founder of the Middle Academy, is evident[5]; but there was
also never a time when the Academy entirely broke away from all
the teachings of Plato, even in their deepest doubt.[6]
It is
true that Arcesilaus removed, nominally as well as in spirit,
some of the dialogues of Plato from the Academy, but only those
that bore a dogmatic character, while those that presented a
more decided Socratic mode of questioning without reaching any
decided result, men regarded as authority for Scepticism.
[1] _Adv. Math._ I. 53.
[2] Diog. IV. 6, 33, 34.
[3] Diog. IX. 12, 114.
[4] Diog. IX. 12, 115.
[5] Diog. IV. 6, 33.
[6] Diog. IV. 6, 32.
Sextus does not deny that Arcesilaus was almost a Pyrrhonean,
but he claims that his Pyrrhonism was only apparent, and not
real, and was used as a cloak to hide his loyalty to the teachings of Plato.[1] As Ariston said of him,[2] "Plato before,
Pyrrho behind, Diodorus in the middle." Sextus also characterises the method of Arcesilaus as dialectic,[3]
and we
know from Cicero that it was his pride to pretend to return to
the dialectic of Socrates.
It is interesting to note that Sextus, in his refutation of the
position that the Academy is the same as Pyrrhonism, takes up
the entire development of Academic thought from the time of
Plato till that of Antiochus, and does not limit the argument to
Scepticism under Arcesilaus. The claim made by some that the two
schools were the same, is stated by him,[4] and the word
'some'
probably refers to members of both schools at different periods
of their history. Sextus recognises three Academies, although he
remarks that some make even a further division, calling that of
Philo and Charmides, the fourth, and that of Antiochus and his
followers, the fifth.
[1] _Hyp._ I. 234.
[2] Diog. IV. 6, 33.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 234.
[4] _Hyp._ I. 220.
That many in the Academy, and even outside of it, regarded Plato
as a Sceptic, and an authority for subsequent Scepticism, we
find both from Sextus and Diogenes.[1] As Lewes justly remarks,
one could well find authority for Scepticism in the works of
Plato, as indeed the Academicians did, but not when the sum
total of his teachings was considered. The spirit of Plato's
teachings was dogmatic, as Sextus most decidedly recognises, and
as Aenesidemus and Menodotus[2] recognised before him.[3] Sextus
himself shows us that Plato's idealism and ethical teachings can
have nothing in common with Scepticism, for if he accepts the
desirability of the virtuous life, and the existence of Providence, he dogmatises; and if he even regards them as
probable, he gives preference to one set of ideas over another,
and departs from the sceptical character. Sextus characterises
the sceptical side of Plato's writings as mental gymnastics,[4]
which do not authorise his being called a Sceptic, and affirms
that Plato is not a Sceptic, since he prefers some unknown
things to others in trustworthiness. The ethical difference
underlying the teachings of the Academy and Pyrrhonism, Sextus
was very quick to see, and although it is very probable that the
part of the _Hypotyposes_ which defines the difference between
the Academy and Pyrrhonism may be largely quoted from the
introduction to Aenesidemus' works, yet Sextus certainly gives
these statements the strong stamp of his approval. He condemns
the Academy because of the theory that good and evil exist, or
if this cannot be decidedly proved, yet that it is more probable
that what is called good exists than the contrary.[5]
[1] _Hyp._ I. 221; Diog. IX. 11, 72.
[2] Bekker's edition of _Hyp._ I. 222.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 222.
[4] _Hyp._ I. 223.
[5] _Hyp_. I. 226.
The whole Academic teaching of probabilities contradicted the
standpoint of the Sceptics--that our ideas are equal as regards
trustworthiness and untrustworthiness,[1] for the Academicians
declared that some ideas are probable and some improbable, and
they make a difference even in those ideas that they call
probable.
Sextus claims that there are three fundamental grounds of
difference between Pyrrhonism and the Academy. The first is the
doctrine of probability which the Academicians accept in regard
to the superior trustworthiness of some ideas over others.[2]
The second is the different way in which the two schools follow
their teachers. The Pyrrhoneans follow without striving or
strong effort, or even strong inclination, as a child follows
his teacher, while the Academicians follow with sympathy and
assent, as Carneades and Clitomachus affirm.[3] The third
difference is in the aim, for the Academicians follow what is
probable in life. The Sceptics follow nothing, but live according to laws, customs, and natural feelings undogmatically.[4]
The difference between the later teaching of the Academy and
Pyrrhonism is evident, and Sextus treats of it briefly, as not
requiring discussion,[5] as Philo taught that the nature of
facts is incomprehensible, and Antiochus transferred the Stoa to
the Academy. It is therefore evident, from the comparison which
we have made, that we do not find in the Academy, with which
Scepticism after the death of Timon was so long united, the
exact continuance of Pyrrhonism. The philosophical enmity of the
two contemporaries, Timon and Arcesilaus, the Academician who
had most in common with Pyrrhonism, is an expression of the
fundamental incompatibility between the two schools.
[1] _Hyp_. I. 227.
[2] _Hyp_. I. 229.
[3] _Hyp_. I. 230.
[4] _Hyp_. I. 231.
[5] _Hyp_. I. 235.
During all the chequered history of the Academy the dormant
idealism was there, underlying the outward development.
Although
during the time of Arcesilaus and Carneades the difference was