Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in
Elis
Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, was a Greek
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
of
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, credited as being the first Greek
skeptic philosopher and founder of
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE.
History
Pyrrho of E ...
.
Life
![MacedonEmpire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/MacedonEmpire.jpg)
Pyrrho of Elis is estimated to have lived from around 365/360 until 275/270 BCE.
Pyrrho was from
Elis
Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...
, on the
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...
. He was likely a member of the Klytidiai, a clan of seers in Elis who interpreted the oracles of the
Temple of Zeus at Olympia where Pyrrho served as a high priest. The Klytidiai were descendants of Klytios, who was the son of
Alcmaeon and the grandson of
Amphiaraus
In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus or Amphiaraos (; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιάραος, Ἀμφιάρεως, "very sacred") was the son of Oicles, a seer, and one of the leaders of the Seven against Thebes. Amphiaraus at first refused to go with Adra ...
. In the ''Python'', Pyrrho's student
Timon of Phlius
Timon of Phlius ( ; grc, Τίμων ὁ Φλιάσιος, Tímōn ho Phliásios, , ; BCc. 235 BC) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher, a pupil of Pyrrho, and a celebrated writer of satirical poems called ''Silloi'' (). He was born in P ...
describes first meeting Pyrrho on the grounds of an
Amphiareion, i.e., a temple of Amphiaraus, while they were both on a pilgrimage to
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
.
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
, quoting from
Apollodorus of Athens
Apollodorus of Athens ( el, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Pan ...
, says that Pyrrho was at first a painter, and that pictures by him were exhibited in the gymnasium at Elis. Later he was diverted to philosophy by the works of
Democritus
Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...
, and according to
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
became acquainted with the
Megarian dialectic through
Bryson, pupil of
Stilpo
Stilpo (or Stilpon; el, Στίλπων, gen.: Στίλπωνος; c. 360 – c. 280 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. He was a contemporary of Theophrastus, Diodorus Cronus, and Crates of Thebes. None of his writings survive, b ...
. Unlike the founders of other Hellenistic philosophies, Pyrrho was not substantively influenced by
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
.
Pyrrho, along with
Anaxarchus
Anaxarchus (; grc, Ἀνάξαρχος; ) was a Greek philosopher of the school of Democritus. Together with Pyrrho, he accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia. The reports of his philosophical views suggest that he was a forerunner of Pyrrhon ...
, travelled with
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
on his
conquest of the east, "so that he even went as far as the
Gymnosophists
Gymnosophists ( grc, γυμνοσοφισταί, ''gymnosophistaí'', i.e. "naked philosophers" or "naked wise men" (from Greek γυμνός ''gymnós'' "naked" and σοφία ''sophía'' "wisdom")) is the name given by the Greeks to certain anc ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the
Magi
Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin ''magus'', cf. fa, مغ ) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius th ...
" in
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
This exposure to
Eastern philosophy
Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...
, and in particular
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combi ...
, seems to have inspired him to create his new philosophy and to adopt a life of solitude. Returning to Elis, he lived in poor circumstances, but was highly honored by the Elians, who made him a high priest, and also by the Athenians, who conferred upon him the rights of citizenship.
Pyrrho's pupils included Timon of Phlius,
Hecataeus of Abdera :''See Hecataeus of Miletus for the earlier historian.''
Hecataeus of Abdera or of Teos ( el, Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης), was a Greek historian and Pyrrhonist philosopher who flourished in the 4th century BC.
Life
Diogenes La ...
, and
Nausiphanes
Nausiphanes ( el, Ναυσιφάνης; lived c. 325 BC), a native of Teos, was attached to the philosophy of Democritus. He was a pupil of Pyrrho and a teacher to Epicurus, who was dissatisfied with him.Diogenes Laertius, x.Cicero, ''de Natura De ...
, who was one of
Epicurus
Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced ...
' teachers.
Arcesilaus
Arcesilaus (; grc-gre, Ἀρκεσίλαος; 316/5–241/0 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic philosopher. He was the founder of Academic Skepticism and what is variously called the Second or Middle or New Academy – the phase of the Platonic Acade ...
was also a pupil of Pyrrho, and he maintained Pyrrho's philosophy except in name. Upon becoming
scholarch
A scholarch ( grc, σχολάρχης, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its fir ...
of the
Platonic Academy
The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...
, Arcesilaus transformed its teachings to conform with those of Pyrrho. This initiated
Academic Skepticism
Academic skepticism refers to the skeptical period of ancient Platonism dating from around 266 BCE, when Arcesilaus became scholarch of the Platonic Academy, until around 90 BCE, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individua ...
, the second Hellenistic school of skeptical philosophy.
Philosophy
Pyrrho himself left no writings. His doctrines were recorded in the writings of his pupil
Timon of Phlius
Timon of Phlius ( ; grc, Τίμων ὁ Φλιάσιος, Tímōn ho Phliásios, , ; BCc. 235 BC) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher, a pupil of Pyrrho, and a celebrated writer of satirical poems called ''Silloi'' (). He was born in P ...
. Unfortunately these works are mostly lost. Little is known for certain about the details of Pyrrho's philosophy and how it may have differed from later
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE.
History
Pyrrho of E ...
. Most of what we know today as Pyrrhonism comes through the book ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' written by
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and ...
over 400 years after Pyrrho's death.
Most sources agree that the primary goal of Pyrrho's philosophy was the achievement of a state of
ataraxia
''Ataraxia'' (Greek: ἀταραξία, from ("a-", negation) and ''tarachē'' "disturbance, trouble"; hence, "unperturbedness", generally translated as "imperturbability", "equanimity", or "tranquility") is a Greek term first used in Ancient Gre ...
, or freedom from mental perturbation, and that he observed that ataraxia could be brought about by eschewing beliefs (
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...
) about thoughts and perceptions. However, Pyrrho's own philosophy may have differed significantly in details from later Pyrrhonism. Most interpretations of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy suggest that he claimed that reality is inherently indeterminate, which, in the view of Pyrrhonism described by
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and ...
, would be considered a negative dogmatic belief.
A summary of Pyrrho's philosophy was preserved by
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
, quoting
Aristocles, quoting
Timon
Timon is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to:
People
* Timon of Athens (person), 5th-century Athenian and legendary misanthrope
* Timon of Phlius (c. 320 BCE – c. 235 BCE), a Pyrrhonist philosopher of Ptolemaic Egypt and He ...
, in what is known as the "Aristocles passage."
There are conflicting interpretations of the ideas presented in this passage, each of which leads to a different conclusion as to what Pyrrho meant.
Whoever wants to live well (eudaimonia
Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία ; sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia, ) is a Greek word literally translating to the state or condition of 'good spirit', and which is commonly translated as 'happiness' or 'welfare'.
In wor ...
) must consider these three questions: First, how are ''pragmata'' (ethical matters, affairs, topics) by nature? Secondly, what attitude should we adopt towards them? Thirdly, what will be the outcome for those who have this attitude?" Pyrrho's answer is that "As for ''pragmata'' they are all adiaphora
Adiaphoron (; plural: adiaphora; from the Greek (pl. ), meaning "not different or differentiable") is the negation of ''diaphora'', "difference".
In Cynicism, adiaphora represents indifference to the s of life. In Pyrrhonism, it indicates things ...
(undifferentiated by a logical differentia), ''astathmēta'' (unstable, unbalanced, not measurable), and ''anepikrita'' (unjudged, unfixed, undecidable). Therefore, neither our sense-perceptions nor our ''doxai'' (views, theories, beliefs) tell us the truth or lie; so we certainly should not rely on them. Rather, we should be ''adoxastoi'' (without views), ''aklineis'' (uninclined toward this side or that), and ''akradantoi'' (unwavering in our refusal to choose), saying about every single one that it no more is than it is not or it both is and is not or it neither is nor is not.
It is uncertain whether
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE.
History
Pyrrho of E ...
was a small but continuous movement in antiquity or whether it died out and was revived. Regardless, several centuries after Pyrrho lived,
Aenesidemus led a revival of the philosophy. Pyrrhonism was one of the two major schools of
philosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even reject ...
that emerged during the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
, the other being
Academic skepticism
Academic skepticism refers to the skeptical period of ancient Platonism dating from around 266 BCE, when Arcesilaus became scholarch of the Platonic Academy, until around 90 BCE, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individua ...
.
Pyrrhonism flourished among members of the
Empiric school
The Empiric school of medicine (''Empirics'', ''Empiricists'', or ''Empirici'', el, Ἐμπειρικοί) was a school of medicine founded in Alexandria the middle of the third century BC. The school was a major influence on ancient Greek and Ro ...
of medicine, where it was seen as the philosophic foundation to their approach to medicine, which was opposed to the approach of the
Dogmatic school
The Dogmatic school of medicine (''Dogmatics'', or ''Dogmatici'', el, Δογματικοί) was a school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. They were the oldest of the medical sects of antiquity. They derived their name from '' dogma'', a ...
of medicine. Pyrrhonism fell into obscurity in the post-Hellenistic period.
Pyrrhonists view their philosophy as a way of life, and view Pyrrho as a model for this way of life. Their main goal is to attain
ataraxia
''Ataraxia'' (Greek: ἀταραξία, from ("a-", negation) and ''tarachē'' "disturbance, trouble"; hence, "unperturbedness", generally translated as "imperturbability", "equanimity", or "tranquility") is a Greek term first used in Ancient Gre ...
through achieving a state of
epoché
Epoché ( ἐποχή ''epokhē'', "cessation") is an ancient Greek term. In Hellenistic philosophy it is a technical term typically translated as " suspension of judgment" but also as "withholding of assent". In the modern philosophy of Phenomen ...
(i.e.,
suspension of judgment Suspended judgment is a cognitive process and a rational state of mind in which one withholds judgments, particularly on the drawing of moral or ethical conclusions. The opposite of suspension of judgment is ''premature judgement'', usually shortene ...
) about beliefs. One method Pyrrhonists use to suspend judgment is to gather arguments on both sides of the disputed issue, continuing to gather arguments such that the arguments have the property of isostheneia (equal strength). This leads the Pyrrhonist to the conclusion that there is an unresolvable disagreement on the topic, and so the appropriate reaction is to suspend judgement. Eventually the Pyrrhonist develops epoché as a habitual response to all matters of dispute, which results in ataraxia.
Ancient Indian influences on Pyrrho
Diogenes Laërtius' biography of Pyrrho reports that Pyrrho traveled with
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
's army on its
conquest of India (327 to 325 BCE) and based his philosophy on what he learned there:
...he even went as far as the Gymnosophists, in India, and the Magi. Owing to which circumstance, he seems to have taken a noble line in philosophy, introducing the doctrine of incomprehensibility, and of the necessity of suspending one's judgment....
The sources and the extent of the Indian influences on Pyrrho's philosophy, however, are disputed. Some elements of
philosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even reject ...
were already present in Greek philosophy, particularly in the
Democritean tradition in which Pyrrho had studied prior to visiting India.
Richard Bett Richard Arnot Home Bett holds a joint appointment in Philosophy and Classics at Johns Hopkins University.
He received his BA from Oxford University and his PhD from UC Berkeley. He spent 1994-5 as a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washi ...
heavily discounts any substantive Indian influences on Pyrrho, arguing that on the basis of testimony of
Onesicritus
Onesicritus ( el, Ὀνησίκριτος; c. 360 BC – c. 290 BC), a Greek historical writer and Cynic philosopher, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaigns in Asia. He claimed to have been the commander of Alexander's fleet but w ...
regarding how difficult it was to converse with the gymnosophists, as it required three translators, none of whom understood any philosophy, that it is highly improbable that Pyrrho could have been substantively influenced by any of the Indian philosophers.
According to
Christopher I. Beckwith
Christopher I. Beckwith (born October 23, 1945) is an American philologist and distinguished professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
He has a B.A. in Chinese from Ohio State Unive ...
's analysis of the Aristocles Passage, adiaphora, astathmēta, and anepikrita are strikingly similar to the Buddhist
three marks of existence
In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण trilakṣaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely ''Impermanence#Buddhism, aniccā'' (impermanence), ''Duḥkha, dukkh ...
, indicating that Pyrrho's teaching is based on Buddhism. Beckwith disputes Bett's argument about the translators, as the other reports of using translators in India, involving
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
and
Nearchus
Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and e ...
, say they needed only one interpreter, and Onesicritus was
criticized by other writers in antiquity for exaggerating. Beckwith also contends that the 18 months Pyrrho spent in India was long enough to learn a foreign language, and that the key innovative tenets of Pyrrho's skepticism were only found in Indian philosophy at the time and not in Greece. Other scholars, such as
Stephen Batchelor Stephen Batchelor may refer to:
* Stephen Batchelor (author) (born 1953), Scottish-born author of books relating to Buddhism
*Stephen Batchelor (field hockey)
Stephen James "Steve" Batchelor (born 22 June 1961) is an English former field hockey ...
and Charles Goodman question Beckwith's conclusions about the degree of Buddhist influence on Pyrrho. Conversely, while critical of Beckwith's tracts, Adrian Kuzminski sees credibility on his hypothesis.
Johannes Bronkhorst criticizes Beckwith and states that "contentwise there is no connection between early Buddhism and Pyrrho's philosophy."
It has also been hypothesized that the gymnosophists were
Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
, or
Ajnanins, and that these are likely influences on Pyrrho. Authors see probable influence of Indian skepticism not only in Pyrrhonism, but also in Buddhism itself as a common ground.
Sources on Pyrrho
Pyrrho did not produce any written work.
Most of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy comes from his student
Timon
Timon is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to:
People
* Timon of Athens (person), 5th-century Athenian and legendary misanthrope
* Timon of Phlius (c. 320 BCE – c. 235 BCE), a Pyrrhonist philosopher of Ptolemaic Egypt and He ...
. Only fragments of what Timon wrote have been preserved, mostly by
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and ...
,
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...
, and
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
.
Most biographical information on Pyrrho, as well as some information concerning his demeanor and behavior, come from the works of mid-third century BC biographer
Antigonus of Carystus Antigonus of Carystus (; grc, Ἀντίγονος ὁ Καρύστιος; la, Antigonus Carystius), Greek writer on various subjects, flourished in the 3rd century BCE. After some time spent at Athens and in travelling, he was summoned to the cour ...
.
Biographical anecdotes from Diogenes Laertius are also frequently cited; his work on Pyrrho's life drew primarily from Antigonus' accounts.
See also
*
Ajñana
''Ajñāna'' () was one of the ''nāstika'' or "heterodox" schools of ancient Indian philosophy, and the ancient school of radical Indian skepticism. It was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism, Jainism and the Ājīvika ...
*
Callisthenes
Callisthenes of Olynthus (; grc-gre, Καλλισθένης; 360327 BCE) was a well-connected Greek historian in Macedon, who accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiatic expedition. The philosopher Aristotle was Callisthenes's great ...
*
Greco-Buddhism
Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the fourth century BC and the fifth century AD in Gandhara, in present-day north-western Pakistan and parts of nort ...
Notes
References
* Algra, K.,
Barnes, J.,
Mansfeld, J. and Schofield, M. (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
*
Annas, Julia and Barnes, Jonathan, ''The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
*
*
Beckwith, Christopher I.
Christopher I. Beckwith (born October 23, 1945) is an American philologist and distinguished professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
He has a B.A. in Chinese from Ohio State Univer ...
, ''Greek Buddha. Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia'', Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2015.
*
Bett, Richard, "Aristocles on Timon on Pyrrho: The Text, Its Logic and its Credibility" ''Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'' 12, (1994): 137–181.
* Bett, Richard, "What did Pyrrho Think about the Nature of the Divine and the Good?" ''Phronesis'' 39, (1994): 303–337.
* Bett, Richard, ''Pyrrho, His Antecedents, and His Legacy'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
* Brunschwig, Jacques, "Introduction: the Beginnings of Hellenistic Epistemology" in Algra, Barnes, Mansfeld and Schofield (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 229–259.
*
Burnyeat, Myles (ed.), ''The Skeptical Tradition'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
* Burnyeat, Myles and
Frede, Michael (eds.), ''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'', Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
* Doomen, Jasper, "The Problems of Scepticism" ''Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy'' 10 (2007): 36–52.
*
* Halkias, Georgios,
The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic world. ''Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies'', Vol. VIII, 2015: 163–186.
* Hankinson, R.J., ''The Sceptics'', London: Routledge, 1995.
*
* Kuzminski, Adrian, ''Pyrrhonism; How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism'', Lanham, Lexington Books, 2008.
*
Long, A.A., ''Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics'', University of California Press, 1986.
* Long, A.A. and Sedley, David, ''The Hellenistic Philosophers'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
*
Striker, Gisela, "On the difference between the Pyrrhonists and the Academics" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 135–149.
* Striker, Gisela, "Sceptical strategies" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 92-115.
* Striker, Gisela, "The Ten Tropes of Aenesidemus" in G. Striker, ''Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 116–134.
* Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho's dogmatic nature", ''The Classical Quarterly'', 52 (2002): 248–56.
* Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, "Pyrrho's undecidable nature", ''Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'', 27 (2004): 249–295.
External links
*
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