Does Pyrrhonism Have Practical Or Epistemic Value? 49
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Skepticism and Pluralism Ways of Living a Life Of
SKEPTICISM AND PLURALISM WAYS OF LIVING A LIFE OF AWARENESS AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ZHUANGZI #±r A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY AUGUST 2004 By John Trowbridge Dissertation Committee: Roger T. Ames, Chairperson Tamara Albertini Chung-ying Cheng James E. Tiles David R. McCraw © Copyright 2004 by John Trowbridge iii Dedicated to my wife, Jill iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completing this research, I would like to express my appreciation first and foremost to my wife, Jill, and our three children, James, Holly, and Henry for their support during this process. I would also like to express my gratitude to my entire dissertation committee for their insight and understanding ofthe topics at hand. Studying under Roger Ames has been a transformative experience. In particular, his commitment to taking the Chinese tradition on its own terms and avoiding the tendency among Western interpreters to overwrite traditional Chinese thought with the preoccupations ofWestern philosophy has enabled me to broaden my conception ofphilosophy itself. Roger's seminars on Confucianism and Daoism, and especially a seminar on writing a philosophical translation ofthe Zhongyong r:pJm (Achieving Equilibrium in the Everyday), have greatly influenced my own initial attempts to translate and interpret the seminal philosophical texts ofancient China. Tamara Albertini's expertise in ancient Greek philosophy was indispensable to this project, and a seminar I audited with her, comparing early Greek and ancient Chinese philosophy, was part ofthe inspiration for my choice ofresearch topic. I particularly valued the opportunity to study Daoism and the Yijing ~*~ with Chung-ying Cheng g\Gr:p~ and benefited greatly from his theory ofonto-cosmology as a means of understanding classical Chinese philosophy. -
3 Arcesilaus and Carneades
C:/ITOOLS/WMS/CUP/552750/WORKINGFOLDER/BCP/9780521874762C03.3D 58 [58–80] 24.9.2009 7:15AM harald thorsrud 3 Arcesilaus and Carneades Arcesilaus initiated a sceptical phase in the Academy after taking over in c. 268 BCE. He was motivated in part by an innovative reading of Plato’s dialogues. Where his predecessors found positive doctrines to be systematically developed, he found a dialectical method of arguing and the sceptical view that nothing can be known (akatalêpsia, De Or. 3.67,seeDL4.28, 4.32). He also advanced this conclusion in opposition to the ambitious system of the Stoics, claiming further that the appropriate response to the pervasive uncertainty generated by his method is the suspension of judgement (epochê). Arcesilaus’ dialectical method was practiced without significant modification in the Academy until Carneades, who became head sometime before 155 BCE.1 Carneades both continued and strength- ened Arcesilaus’ method (ND 1.11, Acad. 2.16, see also Acad. 1.46, and Eusebius, Praep. evang. 14.7.15). Sextus marks the change by referring to Plato’s Academy as Old, Arcesilaus’ as Middle, and Carneades’ as New (PH 1.220). Since the main interpretative issues regarding both Arcesilaus and Carneades depend on the concepts of akatalêpsia and epochê,we must try to determine what they mean, how they are related, and what attitude the Academics take towards them – i.e. in what sense, if any, are these their sceptical doctrines? iarcesilaus The view that Arcesilaus derived from Plato’s dialogues might have taken one of two very different forms. He might have discovered some arguments that show knowledge is not possible. -
Mit Einer Logischen Kritik Der Mathematischen Logik Und Bibliographie Der Logik
GRUNDRISS DER PYRAMIDALEN LOGIK mit einer logischen Kritik der mathematischen Logik und Bibliographie der Logik Lehrmaterialien aus dem Philosophischen Institut der HHU Düsseldorf Forschungsabteilung für Wissenschaftstheorie Prof. Dr. L. Geldsetzer A AB AC ABD Copyright 2000 vorbehalten Kopieren zum Studiengebrauch erlaubt 2 INHALTSVERZEICHNIS Vorbemerkung Zum Konzept der pyramidalen Logik 4 I. Einführung 4 II. Die logischen Elemente 20 1. Intensionen 20 2. Extensionen 21 3. Der Begriff 24 a. Die reguläreBegriffsstrukturDielogische a. 24 b. Negative Begriffe 25 c. Der widersprüchliche Begriff (contradictio in adiecto bzw. contradictio in terminis) 26 d. Der Dispositionsbegriff 30 e. Der Wahrscheinlichkeitsbegriff 32 f. Der Zahlbegriff 33 g. Sogenannte Relationsbegriffe, Ähnlichkeitsbegriffe und "Familienähnlichkeit" 44 h. Der Begriff des Begriffs in der stoischen Logik 47 i. Methoden der Begriffsbildung: Induktion, Deduktion, Analyse und Synthese 50 4. Die Junktoren 55 a. Die urteilsbildendenDie a.Junktoren 57 1. Die unbeschränkteDie (allgemeine)1.Implikation 57 2. Das unbeschränkte (allgemeine) "Zukommen" 58 3. Die korrelierende Implikation 58 4. Die Kopula bzw. die materiale Implikationmateriale 58Kopula die Diebzw. 4. 5. Das spezielle "Zukommen" bzw. die formale Implikation oder Inklusion 58 6. Die Negation 59 7. Der Existenz- bzw. Produktjunktorbzw.Existenz- Der 7. 59 b. Die ausdrucksbildendenDie b. Junktoren 61 1. Die QuantifikationDie 1. 62 2. Die ÄquivalenzDie 2. 63 3. Die unvollständigeDie Disjunktion3. 63 4. Die vollständige Disjunktion oder Alternative 63 5. Die AdjunktionDie 5. 64 c. Die mathematischenJunktorenDie c. 65 1. Die Summenbildung Die 1. (Additionsjunktor) 68 2. Die SubtraktionDie (Differenzenjunktor)2. 68 3. Die ProduktbildungDie 3. (Multiplikationsjunktor) 68 4. Die Division (Quotienten- oder Proportionsjunktor) 69 5. Die PotenzbildungDie (Potenzjunktor)5. -
Dirk Held on Eros Beauty and the Divine in Plato
Nina C. Coppolino, editor ARTICLES & NOTES New England Classical Journal 36.3 (2009) 155-167 Eros, Beauty, and the Divine in Plato Dirk t. D. Held Connecticut College ontemporary intellectual culture is diffident, perhaps hostile, towards the transcendent aspects of Plato’s metaphysics; instead, preference is given to the openness and inconclusiveness of CSocratic inquiry. But it is not possible to distinguish clearly between the philosophy of Socrates and Plato. This essay argues first that Socrates does more than inquire: he enlarges the search for truth with attention to erotics. It further contends that Plato’s transformative vision of beauty and the divine directs the soul, also through erotics, to truth not accessible to syllogisms alone. We must therefore acknowledge that Plato’s philosophy relies at times on affective and even supra-rational means. Debate over the function of philosophy for Socrates and Plato arose immediately following the latter’s death. The early Academy discussed the mode and intent of reason for Socrates and Plato in terms of whether it was best characterized as skepticism or dogmatism. The issue remains pertinent to the present discussion of how Plato intends mortals both to live a life of reason and strive for the divine which is beyond the normal grasp of reason. What we regard as the traditional “Socratic question” arose in the early nineteenth century from studies of Plato by the Protestant theologian and philosopher, Friedrich Schleiermacher. The phrase stands for the attempt to winnow out an historical figure from the disparate accounts of Socrates found in Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes. -
Humor As Philosophical Subversion, Especially in the Skeptics
Humor as Philosophical Subversion, Especially in the Skeptics Richard Bett 1. Introduction Aristotle is not exactly a comedian. He wrote about comedy in the lost second book of the Poetics, and, as discussed in another paper in this volume, he wrote about wittiness (εὐτραπελία) in his ethical works. But he does not exhibit much of either. What humor there is in Aristotle seems to fall into two main varieties. First, there is word-play that engages the reader’s attention, which can perhaps be seen as an instance of a technique he describes in Rhetoric 3.10, that of saying “smart things and things that create a good impression” (τὰ ἀστεῖα καὶ τὰ εὐδοκιµοῦντα, 1410b6).1 Early in the Nicomachean Ethics, he says that in endeavoring to determine the principles (ἀρχαί) of ethics, we should begin (ἀρκτέον) with things known to us (1095b2-4). A little later, introducing the idea of the function (ἔργον) of a human being, he asks whether we can seriously consider that a human being as such (as opposed to people in various occupations) is ἀργόν (1097b28- 30) – which is intentionally ambiguous between “without function” and “lazy.” In De Caelo, introducing the topic of minimal magnitudes, he says that positing such a minimal magnitude (τοὐλάχιστον) will make the biggest difference (τὰ µέγιστα) in mathematics (271b10-11). And in De Interpretatione, discussing names, he says that “non-human 1 Unless otherwise noted, translations are my own. In the case of Timon, I sometimes draw on translations in Bett 2000 and Bett 2015. In the case of Sextus I generally draw on Bett 1997, Bett 2005, and Bett 2012. -
Education Or Indoctrination? Montaigne and Emerson on Preserving Freedom in the Teacher-Student Relationship Rebecca Sullivan Teachers College, Columbia University
666 Montaigne and Emerson on Preserving Freedom in the Teacher-Student Relationship Education or Indoctrination? Montaigne and Emerson on Preserving Freedom in the Teacher-Student Relationship Rebecca Sullivan Teachers College, Columbia University INTRODUCTION In his Essays, Michel de Montaigne paints a self-portrait that champions individual judgment. In contemporary educational parlance, he is an advocate of critical thinking: a student’s ability to reflectively evaluate information, test assumptions, ask clarifying questions, and form judgments for herself.1 Individ- ual judgment is a hallmark of a learner’s freedom because it indicates that she is not merely repeating inherited wisdom, but personally holds a conviction. Enabling such freedom in students requires careful consideration of the rela- tionship between teacher and student in learning. In this article, I consider how teacher-student positionality impacts individual judgment using the example of Michel de Montaigne and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Montaigne’s Essays raise the still-relevant question of the relationship between inherited wisdom and personal experience in forming individual judg- ments. However, Montaigne fails to offer a conclusive answer. While Montaigne draws heavily on past thinkers, he gives precedence to his own experience over inherited wisdom in forming judgments. This can be seen, for example, in his essay “Of Friendship,” in which he references past thinkers, but rejects their formulations of friendship when they fail to accord with his own experience. However, while Montaigne articulates the prominence of personal experience over inherited wisdom in forming individual judgments, the form of his writ- ing—the essay—suggests the opposite. The colloquial, conversational style Montaigne employs in essays such as “Of Friendship” invites the reader to trust in Montaigne’s wisdom without having recourse to her own experience. -
Introduction
Introduction The School of Doubt conducts a parallel philological and philosophical exami- nation of Cicero’s Academica, a work on Hellenistic epistemology written in the first half of 45 bce. The treatise has a unique history, insofar as fragments of two different versions are extant: the second of a two-volume first edition, a dialogue known as the Lucullus; and, forty-six paragraphs of the first book of a four-volume second edition, the Academic Books.1 Both versions ostensibly explore a controversy that divided Plato’s Academy at the turn of the first cen- tury bce, pitting Philo of Larissa against his pupil Antiochus of Ascalon. Their dispute was centered on a disagreement over the foundation of knowledge. As the story goes—a story in large part drawn from the pages of the Academica— Antiochus took issue with certain teachings of Philo’s Academy, whose tradi- tion, developed during the school’s Hellenistic period, came to stand for the unknowability of all perceptual and conceptual objects (impressions, or visa) and for withholding assent to any such impression. These two postures, which defined Academic teaching in the third and second centuries bce, were known as akatalêpsia and epochê respectively. While rejecting this dialectical attitude as a betrayal of the Platonic legacy in which he was educated and to which he professed his loyalty, Antiochus leaned closer to the certitude of the Stoics. Specifically, he believed that the Stoa’s theory of “kataleptic impression” (καταληπτική φαντασία) provided a secure foundation for knowledge and a route back to the systematic spir- it of Platonism. -
Pyrrhonism and Cartesianism – Episode: External World and Aliens
Philosophy department, CEU Budapest, Hungary Table of Contents Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... Pyrrhonism and 2 List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 3 IntroductionCartesianism: ................................................................................................................................ external 4 1.Methodological and practical skepticism: theory and a way of life ........................................ 6 2.Hypothetical doubt,world practical concerns and and the existence aliens of the external world .................. 13 2.1. An explanation for Pyrrhonists not questioning the existence of the external world .... 18 In partial2.2. An analysisfulfillment of whether ofPyrrhonists the requirements could expand the scope for of theirthe skepticism to include the external world .................................................................................................... 21 3.Pyrrhonism, Cartesianism and degreesome epistemologically of Masters interesting of Artsquestions ..................... 27 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ by Tamara Rendulic 37 References ............................................................................................................................... -
GERSON-Cv-Utoronto-Philosophy
Curriculum Vitae Lloyd P. Gerson February 12, 2014 I. Born: December 23, 1948, Chicago, Illinois II. Citizenship: US/Canadian III. Degrees: University of Toronto (Ph.D., philosophy, 1975); University of Toronto (M.A., philosophy, 1971); Grinnell College (B.A., philosophy and classics, 1970) IV. Academic Appointments: Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 1990 - present; Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, U. of T., 1979-90; School of Graduate Studies, U. of T., 1981; Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, U. of T., 1975-9; Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 1974-5 V. Academic Honors: Phi Beta Kappa; Woodrow Wilson Fellowship; Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship; University of Toronto Open Fellowship; University of Toronto Connaught Research Fellowship; SSHRC Research Fellowship; FRSC VI. Doctoral Dissertation: The Unity of Plato's Parmenides. Thesis Committee: R.E. Allen/T.M. Robinson, John Rist, Joseph Owens VII. Research Languages: Ancient Greek; Latin; French; German; Italian; Spanish VIII. Professional Affiliations and Activities: American Philosophical Association; Canadian Philosophical Association; Board of Directors International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 2004 - ; Executive Committee International Plato Society (1998- 2004); Board of Directors, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2007 -. IX. Publications: (a) Books (i) Monographs On the Morality of Nations: The Normative Foundations of International Relations, in progress Plotinus’ Ennead V 5 “That the Intelligibles are not External to the Intellect”. Translation with Commentary and Introduction (Las Vegas, Parmenides Press, 2013), 214pp. From Plato to Platonism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), 345pp. Ancient Epistemology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 179pp. Aristotle and Other Platonists (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005, paper 2006) 335pp. -
Early Pyrrhonism As a Sect of Buddhism? a Case Study in the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy
Comparative Philosophy Volume 9, No. 2 (2018): 1-40 Open Access / ISSN 2151-6014 / www.comparativephilosophy.org https://doi.org/10.31979/2151-6014(2018).090204 EARLY PYRRHONISM AS A SECT OF BUDDHISM? A CASE STUDY IN THE METHODOLOGY OF COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY MONTE RANSOME JOHNSON & BRETT SHULTS ABSTRACT: We offer a sceptical examination of a thesis recently advanced in a monograph published by Princeton University Press entitled Greek Buddha: Pyrrho’s Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia. In this dense and probing work, Christopher I. Beckwith, a professor of Central Eurasian studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, argues that Pyrrho of Elis adopted a form of early Buddhism during his years in Bactria and Gandhāra, and that early Pyrrhonism must be understood as a sect of early Buddhism. In making his case Beckwith claims that virtually all scholars of Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy have been operating under flawed assumptions and with flawed methodologies, and so have failed to notice obvious and undeniable correspondences between the philosophical views of the Buddha and of Pyrrho. In this study we take Beckwith’s proposal and challenge seriously, and we examine his textual basis and techniques of translation, his methods of examining passages, his construal of problems and his reconstruction of arguments. We find that his presuppositions are contentious and doubtful, his own methods are extremely flawed, and that he draws unreasonable conclusions. Although the result of our study is almost entirely negative, we think it illustrates some important general points about the methodology of comparative philosophy. Keywords: adiaphora, anātman, anattā, ataraxia, Buddha, Buddhism, Democritus, Pāli, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonism, Scepticism, trilakṣaṇa 1. -
Sceptical Paths Studies and Texts in Scepticism
Sceptical Paths Studies and Texts in Scepticism Edited on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies by Giuseppe Veltri Managing Editor: Yoav Meyrav Editorial Board Heidrun Eichner, Talya Fishman, Racheli Haliva, Henrik Lagerlund, Reimund Leicht, Stephan Schmid, Carsten Wilke, Irene Zwiep Volume 6 Sceptical Paths Enquiry and Doubt from Antiquity to the Present Edited by Giuseppe Veltri, Racheli Haliva, Stephan Schmid, and Emidio Spinelli The series Studies and Texts in Scepticism is published on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies ISBN 978-3-11-058960-3 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-059104-0 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-059111-8 ISSN 2568-9614 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 Licence. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2019947115 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Giuseppe Veltri, Racheli Haliva, Stephan Schmid, Emidio Spinelli, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Ms Cod. Levy 115, fol. 158r: Maimonides, More Nevukhim, Beginn von Teil III. Printing & binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents Introduction 1 Carlos Lévy Philo of Alexandria vs. Descartes: An Ignored Jewish -
The Influence of Pyrrho of Elis and the Pyrrhonian Praxis of Aporetic
The Influence of Pyrrho of Elis and the Pyrrhonian Praxis of Aporetic Language by © Christopher Craig Dupuis A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy Memorial University of Newfoundland May, 2014 St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador 2 Table of Contents Abstract 4 Introduction and Overview 5 Chapter One 1 Pyrrho’s Aporetic Linguistic Praxis 12 1.1 Ataraxia in Epictetus and Epicurus 21 1.2 The Role of Epoche and Ataraxia in Pyrrho 23 1.3 Plato’s Socrates as Pyrrho’s Sage 43 1.4 Pyrrho and Plato’s Phaedo 45 1.5 Pyrrho, the Meno, and The Soul of The Hellenes 48 1.6 Appearances, Customs, and The Soul of the Sceptic 51 1.7 Pyrrho and Plato’s Theaetetus 55 1.8 Chapter One Conclusion 62 Chapter Two 2.1 Introduction: Academic Scepticism 64 2.2 Scepticism up to this Point 65 2.3 Arcesilaus And the Early Academic Sceptics 68 2.4 Carneades And the ‘New’ Academic Sceptics 81 2.5 Connecting with Pyrrho 91 Chapter Three 3.1 Introduction: Later Pyrrhonian Scepticism 95 3.2 Aenesidemus and the Revival of Pyrrhonism 97 3.3 Aenesidemus, Relativity, and Language Practice 107 3.4 Later Pyrrhonism: Sextus Empiricus 112 3.5 Outline of Sextus 118 3.6 Phantasiai 119 3.7 Apprehension 122 3.8 What the Sceptics Do 125 3.9 Ataraxia and Epoche 128 3.10 The Five Ways to Epoche 133 3 3.10.1 The First Trope: Diaphonia 136 3.10.2 The Second Trope: Infinite Regression 138 3.10.3 The Third Trope: Relativity 139 3.10.4 The Fourth