THE PYRRHONIAN OUTLINES

OF SEXTUS THE PHILOSOPHER

BOOK I.

On the three most general ways of philosophizing.

CHAPTER I.

A decorative historiated initial 'Q' containing floral and leaf motifs within a square frame.

Whenever people seek out any matter, it is natural for them to arrive at one of these results: they either find it, or they deny that it has been found, or they confess that it cannot be grasped, or they persist in searching for it. For this reason, perhaps even in those matters sought within philosophy, some have claimed to have found the truth, while others have declared it to be the sort of thing that cannot be grasped, and others still continue to seek. Those who are called by the specific name of Dogmatists From the Greek dogma, meaning a "decree" or "settled opinion." These philosophers assert that certain truths are definitively known. believe they have found it—such as Aristotle, Epicurus, the Stoics, and certain others. On the other hand, Clitomachus, Carneades, and the rest of the Academics Followers of the "New Academy" of Plato, who argued that while truth might exist, it is impossible for humans to perceive it with certainty. have asserted that things cannot be grasped. But the Sceptics From the Greek skeptikos, meaning "inquirer" or "seeker." Unlike the Academics, the Sceptics do not even assert that the truth is "ungraspable"; they simply keep looking. are still seeking. From this, it is rightly thought that there are three most general ways of philosophizing: the Dogmatic, the Academic, and the Sceptical. Now, it belongs to others to treat the first two; but regarding the Sceptical method, we shall speak in outline original: "ὑποτυπωτικῶς" (hypotypotikōs). This suggests a summary or a sketch rather than an exhaustive technical manual. (that is, briefly setting the main heads of the matters before the eyes). We preface this by saying that regarding none of the things we shall say do we declare that it is absolutely as we say it is, nor do we confirm it with a firm assertion; rather, we set things out in a historical manner Sextus is acting as a "chronicler" of his own mental states, reporting what appears to him at the moment without claiming it is a universal law., describing what currently seems to us to be the case regarding each matter.

On the two-fold treatment of Scepticism.

CHAPTER II.

One part of Sceptical philosophy is called the general treatment, and the other is the specific. In the general part, we set out the marks and characteristics of Scepticism, declaring what its mindset is, what its principles are, what its arguments are, and what its criterion original: "κρι" — an abbreviation for kritērion, the standard or tool used to judge truth. is...