View source for Pyrrho

{{Short description|Greek philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism (c.360-c.270 BC)}}
{{About|the Greek philosopher|similar names|Pyrrhus (disambiguation){{!}}Pyrrhus}}
{{For|the American technical death metal band|Pyrrhon (band)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              = [[Hellenistic philosophy]]
| image            = Philosopher, marble head, Roman copy, AM Corfu, Krfm22.jpg
| caption          = Pyrrho of Elis, [[marble]] head, Roman copy, [[Archaeological Museum of Corfu]]
| name             = Pyrrho
| birth_date       = {{circa|365–360&nbsp;BC|lk=on}}
| birth_place      = [[Ancient Elis|Elis]], Greece
| death_date       = {{circa|275–270&nbsp;BC}} (aged c. 85–95)
| death_place      = Elis, Greece
| school_tradition = [[Philosophical skepticism|Skepticism]]<br>[[Pyrrhonism]]
| main_interests   = [[Epistemology]], [[metaphysics]], [[ethics]]
| notable_ideas    = [[Philosophical skepticism]], [[ataraxia]], [[adiaphora]], [[epoché]]
}}
{{Pyrrhonism sidebar}} 
'''Pyrrho of Elis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|r|oʊ}}; {{langx|grc|Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος}}; {{circa|360|270&nbsp;BC|lk=on}}) was a Greek [[philosopher]] of [[Classical antiquity]], credited as being the first Greek [[Philosophical skepticism|skeptic philosopher]] and founder of [[Pyrrhonism]].

==Life==
[[File:MacedonEmpire.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of [[Alexander the Great]]'s empire and the route he and Pyrrho took to [[India]]]]
Pyrrho of Elis is estimated to have lived from around 365/360 until 275/270 BCE.<ref name=":0"/> Pyrrho was from [[Ancient Elis|Elis]], on the [[Ionian Sea]].  He was likely a member of the Klytidiai,<ref>Dee L. Clayman, ''Timon of Phlius: Pyrrhonism into Poetry'' {{ISBN|3110220806}} 2009 p51</ref>  a clan of seers in Elis who interpreted the oracles of the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus]] at Olympia<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 6.17.6</ref> where Pyrrho served as a high priest. The Klytidiai were descendants of Klytios, who was the son of [[Alcmaeon (mythology)|Alcmaeon]] and the grandson of [[Amphiaraus]]. In the ''Python'', Pyrrho's student [[Timon of Phlius]] describes first meeting Pyrrho on the grounds of an [[Amphiareion]], i.e., a temple of Amphiaraus, while they were both on a pilgrimage to [[Delphi]].<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesaria]] ''Praeparatio Evangelica'' Chapter 18</ref>

Most biographical information on Pyrrho, as well as some information concerning his demeanor and behavior, come from Diogenes Laertius; his work on Pyrrho's life drew primarily from the works of mid-third century BC biographer [[Antigonus of Carystus]].<ref name=":1" /> Unlike the founders of other Hellenistic philosophies, Pyrrho was not substantively influenced by [[Socrates]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SWbABgAAQBAJ&q=Pyrrho+and+the+Socratic&pg=PA149 Richard Bett, "Pyrrho and the Socratic Schools", ''From the Socratics to the Socratic Schools: Classical Ethics, Metaphysics and Epistemology'' Routledge, March 12, 2015, p. 149] "There is no evidence of Pyrrho having regarded Socrates as an intellectual or ethical inspiration.... Similarly, one would be hard pressed to find any kind of link between the two in terms of philosophical "succession"...."</ref>

Pyrrho, along with [[Anaxarchus]], travelled with [[Alexander the Great]] on his [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|Indian campaign]], "so that he even went as far as the [[Gymnosophists]] in [[India]] and the [[Magi]]" in [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]].<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/pyrrho|title=Pyrrho|last1=Bett|first1=Richard|last2=Zalta|first2=Edward|date=Winter 2014|website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=February 19, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57342/57342-h/57342-h.htm#Page_402 |title=Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers |date=c. 220 |publication-date=1915 |language=grc |translator-last=Yonge |translator-first=C.D. |trans-title=Pyrrho|access-date=2025-06-09}}</ref>

[[File:Pyrrho_Heliensis_-_Illustrium_philosophorum_et_sapientum_effigies_ab_eorum_numistatibus_extractae.png|thumb|Imaginary engraving of [[Pyrrho of Elis]] by [[Girolamo Olgiati]] from Illustrium philosophorum et sapientum effigies ab eorum numismatibus extractae. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.]]

==Philosophy==
{{main|Pyrrhonism}}
Pyrrho did not produce any written work.<ref name=":1" /> Most of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy comes from his student [[Timon of Phlius|Timon]]. Only fragments of what Timon wrote have been preserved, mostly by [[Sextus Empiricus]], [[Diogenes Laertius]], and [[Eusebius]]. Little is known for certain about the details of Pyrrho's philosophy and how it may have differed from later [[Pyrrhonism]]. Most of what we know today as Pyrrhonism comes through the book ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' written by Sextus Empiricus over 400 years after Pyrrho's death.

Most sources agree that the primary goal of Pyrrho's philosophy was the achievement of a state of [[ataraxia]], or freedom from mental perturbation, and that he observed that ataraxia could be brought about by eschewing beliefs ([[dogma]]) about thoughts and perceptions. However, Pyrrho's own philosophy may have differed significantly in details from later Pyrrhonism. Most interpretations of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy suggest that he claimed that reality is inherently indeterminate, which, in the view of Pyrrhonism described by Sextus Empiricus, would be considered a negative dogmatic belief.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Pyrrho, his antecedents, and his legacy|last=Bett|first=Richard Arnot|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198250654|location=Oxford|oclc=43615424}}</ref>

A summary of Pyrrho's philosophy was preserved by Eusebius, quoting [[Aristocles of Messene|Aristocles]], quoting Timon, in what is known as the "Aristocles passage."<ref name=":1" /> There are conflicting interpretations of the ideas presented in this passage, each of which leads to a different conclusion as to what Pyrrho meant:

<blockquote>'The things themselves are equally indifferent, and unstable, and indeterminate, and therefore neither our senses nor our opinions are either true or false. For this reason then we must not trust them, but be without opinions, and without bias, and without wavering, saying of every single thing that it no more is than is not, or both is and is not, or neither is nor is not.'<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eusebius |title=Praeparatio Evangelica Book XIV |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_14_book14.htm |website=Tertullian Project |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref></blockquote>

It is uncertain whether Pyrrhonism was a small but continuous movement in antiquity or whether it died out and was revived.  Regardless, several centuries after Pyrrho lived, [[Aenesidemus]] led a revival of the philosophy. Pyrrhonism was one of the two major schools of [[philosophical skepticism]] that emerged during the [[Hellenistic period]], the other being [[Academic skepticism]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The History of Scepticism : from Savonarola to Bayle|last=Popkin|first=Richard Henry|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=9780198026716|edition=Revised|location=Oxford|oclc=65192690}}</ref>

Pyrrhonists view their philosophy as a way of life, and view Pyrrho as a model for this way of life. Their main goal is to attain ataraxia through achieving a state of [[epoché]] (i.e., [[suspension of judgment]]) about beliefs. One method Pyrrhonists use to suspend judgment is to gather arguments on both sides of the disputed issue, continuing to gather arguments such that the arguments have the property of isostheneia (equal strength). 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.

== Ancient Indian influences on Pyrrho ==
Diogenes Laërtius' biography of Pyrrho<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]] ''Lives of the Eminent Philosophers'' Book IX, Chapter 9 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D11]</ref>  reports that Pyrrho traveled with [[Alexander the Great]]'s army on its [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|conquest of India]] (327 to 325 BCE) and based his philosophy on what he learned there:

<blockquote>...he even went as far as the Gymnosophists, in India, and the Magi. Owing to which circumstance, he seems to have taken a noble line in philosophy, introducing the doctrine of incomprehensibility, and of the necessity of suspending one's judgment....</blockquote>

The sources and the extent of the Indian influences on Pyrrho's philosophy, however, are disputed. [[Philosophical skepticism]] was already present in Greek philosophy, particularly in the [[Democritus|Democritean]] tradition in which Pyrrho had studied prior to visiting India. [[Richard Bett]] heavily discounts any substantive Indian influences on Pyrrho, arguing that on the basis of testimony of [[Onesicritus]] regarding how difficult it was to converse with the gymnosophists, as it required three translators, none of whom understood any philosophy, that it is highly improbable that Pyrrho could have been substantively influenced by any of the Indian philosophers.<ref>Richard Bett, Pyrrho, His Antecedents and His Legacy, 2000, p177-8.</ref> According to Indologist and Buddhist scholar [[Johannes Bronkhorst]], early Buddhism and Pyrrho's philosophy share no connection.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |url=https://brill.com/view/title/33009 |title=How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas |date=2016-03-21 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-31551-8 |pages=488 |language=en}}</ref>

It has also been hypothesized that the gymnosophists were [[Jainism|Jains]], or [[Ajñana|Ajnanins]],{{sfn|Barua|1921|p=299}}{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|pp=129-130}}{{sfn|Flintoff|1980}} and that these are likely influences on Pyrrho.{{sfn|Barua|1921|p=299}} Authors see probable influence of Indian skepticism not only in Pyrrhonism,<ref>{{cite book|last=Sellars|first=John|title=Hellenistic Philosophy|date=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191655630}}</ref> but also in Buddhism itself as a common ground.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Heirman|first1=Ann|last2=Bumbacher|first2=Stephan Peter|title=The Spread of Buddhism|date=2007|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|isbn=9789047420064}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Algra, K., [[Jonathan Barnes|Barnes, J.]], [[Jaap Mansfeld|Mansfeld, J.]] and Schofield, M. (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
* [[Julia Annas|Annas, Julia]] and Barnes, Jonathan, ''The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
*{{cite book|last=Barua | first=Benimadhab | title=A History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy | year=1921 | edition=1st | publisher=University of Calcutta | place=London | page=468 | url= https://archive.org/details/A.History.of.Pre-Buddhistic.Indian.Philosophy}}
* Beckwith, Christopher I., ''Greek Buddha''. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2015.
* [[Richard Bett|Bett, Richard]], "Aristocles on Timon on Pyrrho: The Text, Its Logic and its Credibility" ''Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'' 12, (1994): 137–181.
* Bett, Richard, "What did Pyrrho Think about the Nature of the Divine and the Good?" ''Phronesis'' 39, (1994): 303–337.
* Bett, Richard, ''Pyrrho, His Antecedents, and His Legacy'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
* Brunschwig, Jacques, "Introduction: the Beginnings of Hellenistic Epistemology" in Algra, Barnes, Mansfeld and Schofield (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 229–259.
* [[Myles Burnyeat|Burnyeat, Myles]] (ed.), ''The Skeptical Tradition'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
* Burnyeat, Myles and [[Michael Frede|Frede, Michael]] (eds.), ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'', Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
* Doomen, Jasper, "The Problems of Scepticism" ''Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy'' 10 (2007): 36–52.
*{{cite journal|last=Flintoff | first=Everard | title=Pyrrho and India | journal=Phronesis | year=1980 | volume=25 | issue=1 | pages=88–108 | jstor  =4182084|doi=10.1163/156852880X00052 }}
* Halkias, Georgios, "[https://www.academia.edu/12679460/The_Self-immolation_of_Kalanos_and_other_Luminous_Encounters_Among_Greeks_and_Indian_Buddhists_in_the_Hellenistic_World/ The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic world]". ''Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies'', Vol. VIII, 2015: 163–186.
* Halkias, Georgios, "[https://www.academia.edu/44944145/Yavanayāna%20Buddhist%20Soteriology%20in%20the%20Aristocles%20Passage Yavanayāna: Scepticism as Soteriology in Aristocle’s Passage]". In ''Buddhism and Scepticism'' ed. Oren Hanner. Hamburg Buddhist Studies Series 13, University of Hamburg, 83-108. 
* Hankinson, R.J., ''The Sceptics'', London: Routledge, 1995.
*{{cite book|last=Jayatilleke | first=K.N. | title=Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge | year=1963 | edition=1st | publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd. | place=London | page=524 | url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911084454/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 11, 2015 }}
* Kuzminski, Adrian, ''Pyrrhonism; How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism'', Lanham, Lexington Books, 2008. 
* [[A. A. Long|Long, A.A.]], ''Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics'', University of California Press, 1986.
* Long, A.A. and Sedley, David, ''The Hellenistic Philosophers'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
* [[Gisela Striker|Striker, Gisela]], "On the difference between the Pyrrhonists and the Academics" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 135–149.
* Striker, Gisela, "Sceptical strategies" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 92-115.
* Striker, Gisela, "The Ten Tropes of Aenesidemus" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 116–134.
* Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho's dogmatic nature", ''The Classical Quarterly'', 52 (2002): 248–56.
* Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho's undecidable nature", ''Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'', 27 (2004): 249–295.
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==External links==
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*{{cite SEP |url-id=pyrrho |title=Pyrrho |last=Bett |first=Richard}}
*{{cite IEP |url-id=pyrrho |title=Pyrrho}}
*{{cite LotEP |chapter=Pyrrho}}

{{skepticism}}
{{Greek schools of philosophy}}
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[[Category:Pyrrhonism]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Eleans]]
[[Category:Ancient Skeptic philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek epistemologists]]
[[Category:Philosophers and tutors of Alexander the Great]]
[[Category:360s BC births]]
[[Category:270s BC deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations]]