Sextus Empiricus: Outlines of Scepticism

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Cambridge University Press, Jul 20, 2000 - Philosophy - 248 pages
Outlines of Scepticism, by the Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus, is a work of major importance for the history of Greek philosophy. It is the fullest extant account of ancient scepticism, and it is also one of our most copious sources of information about the other Hellenistic philosophies. Its first part contains an elaborate exposition of the Pyrrhonian variety of scepticism; its second and third parts are critical and destructive, arguing against 'dogmatism' in logic, epistemology, science and ethics - an approach that revolutionized the study of philosophy when Sextus' works were rediscovered and published in the sixteenth century. This volume presents the accurate and readable translation which was first published in 1994, together with a substantial new historical and philosophical introduction by Jonathan Barnes.
 

Contents

Book I
3
Book II
65
Book III
141
Bibliography
217
Glossaries
224

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About the author (2000)

Jonathan Barnes has a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Sussex. He has been writing since the age of 21 and under a pseudonym has published four novels. He cam across the Bates method in 1983 and, as a wearer of glasses himself, decided to investigate it from a biologist's viewpoint. He found it logical and consistent, and since practising it has been able to improve his eyesight and discard his glasses.

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