View source for Sextus Empiricus

{{Short description|2nd-century Roman philosopher and physician}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region          = [[Western philosophy]]
| era             = [[Hellenistic philosophy]]
| image           = Sextus.jpg
| name            = Sextus Empiricus
| birth_date  = Second century CE
| death_date  = Late 2nd century or early 3rd century
| death_place = possibly in [[Alexandria]] or [[Rome]]
| school_tradition = [[Pyrrhonism]]<br />[[Empiric school]]
|notable_works = {{ublist|class=nowrap
|''Outlines of Pyrrhonism''
|''Against the Dogmatists''
|''Against the Professors''
}}
|main_interests = [[Skepticism]]
}}
{{Pyrrhonism sidebar}} 
'''Sextus Empiricus''' ({{langx|grc|Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός}}, {{transliteration|grc|Sextos Empeirikos}}; {{Floruit|mid-late 2nd century CE}}) was a [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonist]] [[philosopher]] and [[Empiric school]] [[physician]] with [[Roman citizenship]]. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman [[Pyrrhonism]], and because of the arguments they contain against the other [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic philosophies]], they are also a major source of information about those philosophies.

== Life ==
Little is known about Sextus Empiricus. He likely lived in [[Alexandria]], [[Rome]], or [[Athens]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL273/1933/volume.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608153204/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674993013 |title=Outlines of Pyrrhonism | orig-date=1957 | publisher=W. Heinemann, Limited | isbn=978-0-674-99301-3 |access-date=2023-10-15 | archive-date=2023-06-08 |url-status=live}}</ref> His Roman name, [[Sextus]], implies he was a Roman citizen.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MPFkU8agamYC&dq=sextus+empiricus+roman+citizen&pg=PA6|title=What Did the Romans Know?: An Inquiry into Science and Worldmaking|first=Daryn|last=Lehoux|date=March 15, 2012|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-47115-0 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The ''[[Suda]],'' a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, states that he was the same person as [[Sextus of Chaeronea]],<ref name="auto">[[Suda]], Sextos σ 235.</ref> as do other pre-modern sources, but this identification is commonly doubted.<ref>[[Luciano Floridi]] ''Sextus Empiricus: The Transmission and Recovery of Pyrrhonism'' 2002 {{ISBN|0195146719}} pp 3–7.</ref> In his medical work, as reflected by his name, tradition maintains that he belonged to the Empiric school in which Pyrrhonism was popular. However, at least twice in his writings, Sextus seems to place himself closer to the [[Methodic school]].

== Philosophy ==
{{main|Pyrrhonism}}
As a skeptic, Sextus Empiricus raised concerns which applied to all types of knowledge. He doubted the validity of [[problem of induction|induction]]<ref>Sextus Empiricus. ''[[Outlines of Pyrrhonism]]'' trans. [[Robert Gregg Bury|R.G. Bury]] (Loeb edn) (London: W. Heinemann, 1933), p. 283.</ref> long before its best known critic, [[David Hume]], and raised the [[regress argument]] against all forms of reasoning:
{{blockquote|Those who claim for themselves to judge the truth are bound to possess a criterion of truth. This criterion, then, either is without a judge's approval or has been approved. But if it is without approval, whence comes it that it is trustworthy? For no matter of dispute is to be trusted without judging. And, if it has been approved, that which approves it, in turn, either has been approved or has not been approved, and so on ''[[ad infinitum]]''.<ref>Sextus Empiricus. ''Against the Logicians'' trans. R.G. Bury (Loeb edn) (London: W. Heinemann, 1935) p. 179</ref>}}
This view is known as [[Pyrrhonian skepticism]], which Sextus differentiated from [[Academic skepticism]] as practiced by [[Carneades]] which, according to Sextus, denies the possibility of knowledge altogether, something that Sextus criticized as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief; in other words, suspending judgment ([[epoché]]) about whether or not anything is knowable.<ref>See ''PH'' I.3, I.8, I.198; cf. J. Barnes, "Introduction", xix ff., in Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Scepticism''. Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes (transl.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).</ref> Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of [[ataraxia]] (roughly, 'peace of mind').

There is some debate as to the extent to which Sextus advocated the suspension of judgement. According to [[Myles Burnyeat]],<ref>Burnyeat, M., "Can The Sceptic Live His Scepticism" in Myles Burnyeat and Michael Frede (ed.), ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'' (Hackett, 1997): 25–57. Cf. Burnyeat, M., "The Sceptic in His Place and Time", ''ibid.'', 92–126.</ref>  [[Jonathan Barnes]],<ref>Barnes, J., "The Beliefs of a Pyrrhonist" in Myles Burnyeat and Michael Frede (ed.), ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'' (Hackett, 1997): 58–91.</ref> and [[Benson Mates]],<ref>Mates, B. ''The Skeptic Way'' (Oxford UP, 1996).</ref> Sextus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs; that is to say, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit. [[Michael Frede]], however, defends a different interpretation,<ref>Frede, M., "The Sceptic's Beliefs" in Myles Burnyeat and Michael Frede (ed.), ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'' (Hackett, 1997): 1–24. Cf. Frede, M., "The Skeptic's Two Kinds of Assent and the Question of the Possibility of Knowledge", ''ibid.'', 127–152.</ref> according to Sextus, beliefs are permissible so long as they are not grounded in reason, philosophy, or speculation; a skeptic may, for instance, accept commonly held views within their society. The key distinction between the skeptic and the dogmatist lies in the source of belief: the skeptic does not arrive at beliefs through rigorous philosophical inquiry.

== Writings ==
[[Diogenes Laërtius]]<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]] '' Lives of Eminent Philosophers'' "Life of Timon" Book IX Chapter 12 Section 116 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D12]</ref> and the [[Suda]]<ref name="auto"/> report that Sextus Empiricus wrote ten books on Pyrrhonism. The Suda also says Sextus wrote a book ''Ethica''. Sextus Empiricus's three surviving works are the ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' ({{Lang|grc|Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτυπώσεις}}, ''Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis'', thus commonly abbreviated ''PH''), and two distinct works preserved under the same title, ''Adversus Mathematicos'' ({{lang|grc|Πρὸς μαθηματικούς}}, ''Pros mathematikous'', commonly abbreviated "AM" or "M" and known as ''Against Those in the Disciplines,'' or ''Against the Mathematicians''). ''Adversus Mathematicos'' is incomplete as the text references parts that are not in the surviving text. ''Adversus Mathematicos'' also includes mentions of three other works which did not survive: 
* ''Medical Commentaries'' (AD I 202) 
* ''Empirical Commentaries'' (AM I 62)
* ''Commentaries on the Soul'' which includes a discussion of the Pythagoreans' metaphysical theory of numbers (AD IV 284) and shows that the soul is nothing (AM VI 55)<ref>Machuca, Diego ''Sextus Empiricus : his outlook, works, and legacy'' 2008 p. 35 [https://philarchive.org/archive/MACSEH]</ref>

The surviving first six books of ''Adversus Mathematicos'' are commonly known as ''Against the Professors''. Each book also has a traditional title;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sextus-empiricus/|title=Sextus Empiricus|author=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=29 May 2015}}</ref> although none of these titles except ''Pros mathematikous'' and ''Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis'' are found in the manuscripts. 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Book
! English title
! Greek title
|-
|I
| Against the Grammarians
| Πρὸς γραμματικούς / Pros grammatikous
|-
|II
| Against the Rhetoricians
| Πρὸς ῥητορικούς / Pros rhetorikous
|-
|III
| Against the Geometers
| Πρὸς γεωμετρικούς / Pros geometrikous
|-
|IV
| Against the Arithmeticians
| Πρὸς ἀριθμητικούς / Pros arithmetikous
|-
|V
| Against the Astrologers
| Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους / Pros astrologous
|-
|VI
| Against the Musicians
| Πρὸς μουσικούς / Pros mousikous
|}

''Adversus Mathematicos'' ''I–VI'' is sometimes distinguished from ''Adversus Mathematicos'' ''VII–XI'' by using another title, ''Against the Dogmatists'' ({{lang|grc|Πρὸς δογματικούς}}, ''Pros dogmatikous'') and then the remaining books are numbered as I–II, III–IV, and V, despite the fact that it is commonly inferred that what we have is just part of a larger work whose beginning is missing and it is unknown how much of the total work has been lost. The supposed general title of this partially lost work is ''Skeptical Treatises''' ({{Lang|grc|Σκεπτικὰ Ὑπομνήματα}}/''Skeptika Hypomnēmata'').<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwpZVuylPgYC&q=Skeptical+Treatises%27&pg=PA303|title=A Companion to Socrates|author=Sara Ahbel-Rappe |author2=[[Rachana Kamtekar]] |year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-9260-6}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Book
! English title
! Greek title
|-
|VII–VIII
| Against the Logicians
| Πρὸς λογικούς / Pros logikous
|-
|IX–X
| Against the Physicists
| Πρὸς φυσικούς / Pros Physikous
|-
|XI
| Against the Ethicists
| Πρὸς ἠθικούς / Pros Ethikous
|}

== Legacy ==
An influential [[Latin]] translation of Sextus's ''Outlines'' was published by [[Henricus Stephanus]] in [[Geneva]] in 1562,<ref>Bican Şahin, [''Toleration: The Liberal Virtue''], Lexington Books, 2010, p. 18.</ref> and this was followed by a complete Latin Sextus with [[Gentian Hervet]] as translator in 1569.<ref>[[Richard Popkin]] (editor), ''History of Western Philosophy'' (1998) p. 330.</ref> Petrus and Jacobus Chouet published the Greek text for the first time in 1621. Stephanus did not publish it with his Latin translation either in 1562 or in 1569, nor was it published in the reprint of the latter in 1619.

Sextus's ''Outlines'' were widely read in [[Europe]] during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and had a profound effect on [[Michel de Montaigne]], [[David Hume]] and [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], among many others. Another source for the circulation of Sextus's ideas was [[Pierre Bayle]]'s ''Dictionary''.<ref>The legacy of Pyrrhonism is described in [[Richard Popkin]]'s ''The History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes'' and ''High Road to Pyrrhonism''. The transmission of Sextus's manuscripts through antiquity and the Middle Ages is reconstructed by [[Luciano Floridi]]'s ''Sextus Empiricus, The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism'' (Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 2002).</ref> Since the Renaissance, French philosophy has been continuously influenced by Sextus: [[Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]] in the 16th century, [[René Descartes|Descartes]], [[Blaise Pascal]], [[Pierre-Daniel Huet]] and [[François de La Mothe Le Vayer]] in the 17th century, many of the "Philosophes", and in recent times controversial figures such as [[Michel Onfray]], in a direct line of filiation between Sextus' radical skepticism and secular or even radical atheism.<ref>Recent Greek-French edition of Sextus's works by Pierre Pellegrin, with an upbeat commentary. Paris: Seuil-Points, 2002.</ref>

== Works ==
=== Translations ===
{{refbegin}}
;Old complete translation in four volumes:
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Sextus Empiricus I: Outlines of Pyrrhonism''. [[Robert Gregg Bury|R.G. Bury]] (trans.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933/2000). {{ISBN|0-674-99301-2}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Sextus Empiricus II: Against the Logicians''. R.G. Bury (trans.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935/1997). {{ISBN|0-674-99321-7}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Sextus Empiricus III: Against the Physicists, Against the Ethicists''. R.G. Bury (trans.) Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1936/1997. {{ISBN|0-674-99344-6}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Sextus Empiricus IV: Against the Professors''. R.G. Bury (trans.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949/2000). {{ISBN|0-674-99420-5}}

;New partial translations
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Grammarians'' (Adversos Mathematicos I) David Blank (trans.) Oxford:  Clarendon Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-824470-3}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Mathematicians'' (Adversos Mathematicos IV) Lorenzo Corti (trans.) Leiden: Brill, 2024. {{ISBN|978-90-04-67949-8}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against those in the Disciplines'' (Adversos Mathematicos I-VI). Richard Bett (trans.) (New York: Oxford University Press 2018). {{ISBN|9780198712701}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Logicians''. (Adversus Mathematicos VII and VIII). Richard Bett (trans.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-521-53195-0}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Physicists'' (Adversus Mathematicos IX and X). Richard Bett (trans.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|0-521-51391-X}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Ethicists'' (Adversus Mathematicos XI). Richard Bett (trans.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000). {{ISBN|0-19-825097-5}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Scepticism''. Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes (trans.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. 2000). {{ISBN|0-521-77809-3}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''The Skeptic Way: Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism''. Benson Mates (trans.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-19-509213-9}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Selections from the Major Writings on Skepticism Man and God''. Sanford G. Etheridge (trans.) Indianapolis: Hackett, 1985. {{ISBN|0-87220-006-X}}

;French translations
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Contre les Professeurs'' (the first six treatises), Greek text and French Translation, under the editorship of Pierre Pellegrin (Paris: Seuil-Points, 2002). {{ISBN|2-02-048521-4}}
* Sextus Empiricus, ''Esquisses Pyrrhoniennes'', Greek text and French Translation, under the editorship of Pierre Pellegrin (Paris: Seuil-Points, 1997).

;Old editions
* ''[[s:la:Liber:Sexti Empirici Adversus mathematicos.djvu|Sexti Empirici Adversus mathematicos]], hoc est, adversus eos qui profitentur disciplinas'', Gentiano Herveto Aurelio interprete, Parisiis, M. Javenem, 1569 ([[Wikisource|Vicifons]]).
{{refend}}

== See also ==
* [[Philosophical skepticism]]
* [[Protagoras]]
* [[Dissoi logoi|Dissoi Logoi]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* [[Julia Annas|Annas, Julia]] and [[Jonathan Barnes|Barnes, Jonathan]], ''The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. {{ISBN|0-521-27644-6}}
* Bailey, Alan, ''Sextus Empiricus and Pyrrhonean scepticism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-19-823852-5}}
*{{cite book|last=Berry|first=Jessica|title=Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-536842-0|page=230|url=http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24777-nietzsche-and-the-ancient-skeptical-tradition/}}
* Bett, Richard, ''Pyrrho, His Antecedents, and His Legacy'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-19-925661-6}}
* Breker, Christian, ''Einführender Kommentar zu Sextus Empiricus' "Grundriss der pyrrhonischen Skepsis"'', Mainz, 2011: electr. publication, University of Mainz. [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:hebis:77-25461 available online] (comment on Sextus Empiricus' "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" in German language)
* Brennan, Tad, ''Ethics and Epistemology in Sextus Empiricus'', London: Garland, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8153-3659-4}}
* [[Victor Brochard|Brochard, Victor]], ''Les Sceptiques grecs'' (1887) reprint Paris: Librairie générale française, 2002.
* [[Myles Burnyeat|Burnyeat, Myles]] and [[Michael Frede|Frede, Michael]] ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'', Hackett: Indianapolis, 1997. {{ISBN|0-87220-347-6}}
* [[Luciano Floridi|Floridi, Luciano]], ''Sextus Empiricus: the Transmission and Recovery of Pyrrhonism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-19-514671-9}}
* Hankinson, R.J., ''The Sceptics'', London: Routledge, 1998. {{ISBN|0-415-18446-0}}
* Hookway, C., ''Scepticism'', London: Routledge, 1992. {{ISBN|0-415-08764-3}}
* Jourdain, Charles, ''Sextus Empiricus et la philosophie scholastique'', Paris: Paul Dupont, 1858.
* Janáček, Karel, ''Sexti Empirici indices'', Firenze: Olschki, 2000.
* Janáček, Karel, ''Studien zu Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius und zur pyrrhonischen Skepsis''. Hrsg. v. Jan Janda / Filip Karfík (= Beiträge zur Altertumskunde; Bd. 249), Berlin: de Gruyter 2008.
* Mates, Benson, ''The Skeptic Way: Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
* Pappenheim Eugen, ''Lebensverhältnisse des Sextus Empiricus'', Berlin, Nauck, 1875.
* Perin, Casey, ''The Demands of Reason: An Essay on Pyrrhonian Scepticism'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
* [[Richard Popkin|Popkin, Richard]], ''The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-19-510768-3}}
* Vazquez, Daniel, ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23041699 Reason in Check: the Skepticism of Sextus Empiricus]'', ''Hermathena'', 186, 2009, pp.&nbsp;43–57.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621153548/http://www.philosophy.leeds.ac.uk/GMR/hmp/modules/hdc0405/units/unit05/outlines.html Excerpts from the "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" by Sextus Empiricus]
* {{cite SEP |url-id=sextus-empiricus |title=Sextus Empiricus |last=Morison |first=Benjamin}}
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17556 Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism] (at Project Gutenberg; includes translation of first book of the Pyrrhonic Sketches)
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_j-dEAAAAMAAJ The complete works of Sextus Empiricus in Greek] (at [[Google Books]]).
* [https://archive.org/details/sextiempiriciope12sext ''Sexti Empirici opera''] recensuit [[Hermann Mutschmann|Hermannus Mutschmann]], voll. 2, Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1912.

{{skepticism}}{{Ancient Roman medicine}}{{Greek schools of philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empiricus, Sextus}}
[[Category:2nd-century Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Roman-era Skeptic philosophers]]
[[Category:2nd-century Roman physicians]]
[[Category:2nd-century Greek physicians]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek epistemologists]]
[[Category:Pyrrhonism]]