Editing Pyrrho (section)

==Philosophy==
{{main|Pyrrhonism}}
Pyrrho did not produce any written work.<ref name=":1" /> Most of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy comes from his student [[Timon of Phlius|Timon]]. Only fragments of what Timon wrote have been preserved, mostly by [[Sextus Empiricus]], [[Diogenes Laertius]], and [[Eusebius]]. Little is known for certain about the details of Pyrrho's philosophy and how it may have differed from later [[Pyrrhonism]]. Most of what we know today as Pyrrhonism comes through the book ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' written by [[Sextus Empiricus]] 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]], or freedom from mental perturbation, and that he observed that ataraxia could be brought about by eschewing beliefs ([[dogma]]) 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]], would be considered a negative dogmatic belief.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Pyrrho, his antecedents, and his legacy|last=Bett|first=Richard Arnot|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198250654|location=Oxford|oclc=43615424}}</ref>

A summary of Pyrrho's philosophy was preserved by [[Eusebius]], quoting [[Aristocles of Messene|Aristocles]], quoting [[Timon of Phlius|Timon]], in what is known as the "Aristocles passage."<ref name=":1" /> There are conflicting interpretations of the ideas presented in this passage, each of which leads to a different conclusion as to what Pyrrho meant:

<blockquote>'The things themselves are equally indifferent, and unstable, and indeterminate, and therefore neither our senses nor our opinions are either true or false. For this reason then we must not trust them, but be without opinions, and without bias, and without wavering, saying of every single thing that it no more is than is not, or both is and is not, or neither is nor is not.'<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eusebius |title=Praeparatio Evangelica Book XIV |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_14_book14.htm |website=Tertullian Project |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref></blockquote>

In the writings of [[Cicero]]<ref>Cicero, Tusculan disputations, chapter 5 section 85</ref> and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]<ref>Seneca, Natural questions, chapter 7 section 32</ref> Pyrrho is listed among those philosophers who left no one to carry on their teachings,<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Long |first=A.A. |title=The Hellenistic Philosophers |last2=Sedley |first2=D.N. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |location=New York |pages=17}}</ref> though the opposite may be understood from [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]].<ref>Pliny, Natural History, Chapter 7 section 80</ref> And so it is uncertain whether [[Pyrrhonism]] 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]] that emerged during the [[Hellenistic period]], the other being [[Academic skepticism]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The History of Scepticism : from Savonarola to Bayle|last=Popkin|first=Richard Henry|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=9780198026716|edition=Revised|location=Oxford|oclc=65192690}}</ref> Pyrrhonism flourished among members of the [[Empiric school]] 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]] 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]] through achieving a state of [[epoché]] (i.e., [[suspension of judgment]]) 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.