Abstract

An important addition to the study of ancient skepticism, this book argues that there were three schools of thought associated with the name of Pyrrho in antiquity, and that although they are distinct from one another on crucial philosophical points they are similar enough to be linked genealogically. First comes Pyrrho himself in the fourth and third centuries B.C.E., who took the metaphysical position that “reality is inherently indeterminate” and therefore chose a way of life characterized by distrust of sensory experience, avoidance of theoretical inquiry, and freedom from emotional disturbance. In a cautiously argued chapter entitled “Forerunners,” Bett argues for Pyrrho’s originality; some earlier philosophers distrusted theory and some sought freedom from disturbance, but Pyrrho was the first Greek thinker to connect the two themes, so far as we can tell.