Sextus Empiricus: Selections from the Major Writings on Scepticism, Man, and God by Sextus Empiricus

Sextus Empiricus: Selections from the Major Writings on Scepticism, Man, and God by Sextus Empiricus

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Summary

A book that is suitable for undergraduate courses.

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Sextus Empiricus: Selections from the Major Writings on Scepticism, Man, and God by Sextus Empiricus

A book that is suitable for undergraduate courses.
Judicious in every respect: selection, translation and structuring of the texts, footnotes, bibliography, and index. . . The book of choice for undergraduate courses. --Edward M. Galligan, University of North Carolina
SEXTUS EMPIRICUS, physician and philosopher, wrote in the latter part of the third century CE. Little is known of Sextus's life. He seems to have resided for a while in Rome and later in Alexandria.

Though his medical writings are lost, Sextus's surviving philosophical works are Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Against the Dogmatists, Against the Logi-cians, Against the Physicists, Against the Ethicists, and Against the Professors. Also ascribed to him are a treatise On the Soul and Notes on Medicine.

Sextus represented the new skeptical school founded by Aenesidemus of Cnossos, whose system Sextus endeavored to clarify. Briefly, the skeptics de-voted themselves to critiquing and pointing out the shortcomings of every positive philosophical doctrine. Sextus himself was a major proponent of the Pyrrhonistic suspension of judgment (named for the philosopher Pyrrho of Elis [ca. 360-270 BCE), which maintained that we can obtain no undeniably true knowledge of reality. This being the case, we should refrain from forming judgments about things we cannot truly understand.

While Sextus's writings may appear wanting in originality, they are a valuable compilation of the work of his predecessors, and for this very reason, they provide us with a much-needed description of ancient skepticism.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780872200067
ISBN 10 087220006X
Title Sextus Empiricus: Selections from the Major Writings on Scepticism, Man, and God
Author Sextus Empiricus
Series Hackett Classics
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Year published 1985-12-01
Number of pages 252
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.