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Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE, and said to have been inspired by the teachings of Pyrrho and Timon of Phlius in the fourth century BCE.
This leads the Pyrrhonist to the conclusion that there is an unresolvable disagreement on the topic, and so the appropriate reaction is to suspend judgement. Eventually the Pyrrhonist develops epoché as a habitual response to all matters of dispute, which results in ataraxia.
Epoché plays an important role in Pyrrhonism, the skeptical philosophy named after Pyrrho, who is regarded as the founder of ancient skepticism. [5] The Pyrrhonists developed the concept of "epoché" to describe the state where all judgments about non-evident matters are suspended to induce a state of ataraxia (freedom from worry and anxiety).
The Suda (a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia based on many ancient sources that have since been lost) identifies Sextus of Chaeronea as being a student of Herodotus of Tarsus and being the same person as Sextus Empiricus, in which case Sextus would be a Pyrrhonist. [3] Diogenes Laertius also says that Sextus Empiricus was a student of ...
Little is known about Sextus Empiricus. He likely lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Athens. [1] His Roman name, Sextus, implies he was a Roman citizen. [2] The Suda, a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, states that he was the same person as Sextus of Chaeronea, [3] as do other pre-modern sources, but this identification is commonly doubted. [4]
Whether Aenesidemus re-founded the Pyrrhonist school or merely revitalized it is unknown: while Diogenes claims an unbroken lineage of teachers of Pyrrhonism from Pyrrho through Sextus, with Aenesidemus' teacher being Heraclides of Tarentum, [3] little is known about several of the names between Timon of Phlius and Aenesidemus, so this lineage ...
Following the death of the Pyrrhonist Timon of Phlius, the Platonic Academy became the primary advocate of skepticism until the mid-first century BCE. [4] While early Academic skepticism was influenced in part by Pyrrho, [ 5 ] it grew more and more dogmatic until Aenesidemus , in the first century BCE, broke with the Academic skeptics and ...
[citation needed] Pyrrhonists (or Pyrrhonist practice) can be subdivided into those who are ephectic (engaged in suspension of judgment), zetetic (engaged in seeking), or aporetic (engaged in refutation). [67] Pyrrhonist practice is for the purpose of achieving epoché, i.e., suspension of judgment. The core practice is through setting argument ...