Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
Five Modes of Scepticism
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
Five Modes
of Scepticism
Sextus Empiricus
and the Agrippan Modes
Stefan Sienkiewicz
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
3
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For my parents, Richard and Naz—for everything.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,8/2/2019,SPi
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1. TheModeofDisagreement 12
SomeFeaturesofDisagreement 12
KindsofDisagreement 15
IstheScepticPartoftheDisagreement? 19
DisagreementandUndecidedDisagreement 22
PrinciplesofDisagreement 25
TwoAccountsoftheSortsofBeliefsaScepticCanHold 29
ADogmaticModeofDisagreement 31
TheMethodofEquipollence 34
AScepticalModeofDisagreement 41
ChroniclingDisagreementandCreatingDisagreement 47
ConcludingRemarks 51
2. TheModeofHypothesis 53
WhentheModeofHypothesisOccurs 53
WhatHypothesizingIsNot 55
WhatHypothesizingIs 59
TheFunctionofHypothesizing 64
ThreeModesofHypothesis 68
AScepticalModeofHypothesis 72
TheModeofHypothesisasaLimitingCaseofthe
MethodofEquipollence 74
ConcludingRemarks 76
3. TheModeofInfiniteRegression 77
InfinityIntroduced 77
TheUnacceptabilityofInfinitelyRegressiveArguments 80
TheUnsurveyabilityofInfinitelyRegressiveArguments 87
InfiniteRegressionandtheSuspensionofJudgement 93
ADogmaticModeofInfiniteRegression 97
AScepticalModeofInfiniteRegression 99
ConcludingRemarks 102
4. TheModeofReciprocity 104
ReciprocityParalleltoInfiniteRegression 104
FormalReciprocity 105
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viii CONTENTS
RegressiveReciprocity 108
ConceptualReciprocity 110
TheUnacceptabilityofReciprocalArguments 111
TwoKindsofPriority 114
AsymmetryandTransitivity 116
FromReciprocitytotheSuspensionofJudgement 118
ADogmaticModeofReciprocity 119
AScepticalModeofReciprocity 121
ConcludingRemarks 123
5. TheModeofRelativity 125
ModesofRelativity 125
TheLogicalFormofSextus’Argument 129
Sub-Argument1 132
Sub-Argument2 134
Sub-Argument3 136
TheNatureofSextanRelativity 137
TheModeofRelativityandtheOtherAgrippanModes 143
RelativityandDisagreement 147
ConcludingRemarks 152
6. TheModesCombined 154
PreliminaryRemarks 154
Net1 157
Net2 166
TheModesRecombined 177
ActualDisagreement,PossibleDisagreement,andtheGiving
ofReasons 181
DogmaticNets 186
ConcludingRemarks 190
References 193
IndexLocorum 199
GeneralIndex 202
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Acknowledgements
This book owes much to many. My interest in Sextus Empiricus was
sparked back when I was an undergraduate when I stumbled across
Jonathan Barnes’s The Toils of Scepticism, without which—simply
put—this book would not exist. That spark was fanned by attending a
splendid series of lectures on Sextus by Benjamin Morison, who first
prompted metothink moreabout thetheoreticalunderpinningsofthe
AgrippanmodesandunderwhoseexpertguidanceIbegantoarticulate,
in an MSt thesis, some of the ideas that still find expression in the
following pages. So many of the insights of this book—if insights they
be—Iowetomyconversationswithhim.TomyDPhilsupervisor,David
Charles, whose acuity, diligence, kindness, and generosity—both philo-
sophical and otherwise—remain for me exemplary, I owe a debt that
cannotberepaid.Tomytwodoctoralexaminers—JonathanBarnesand
ThomasJohansen—withoutwhoseencouragementandadvicethisbook
wouldnothaveseenthelightofday,Ioffermyheartfeltthanks.Finally,
to Peter Momtchiloff for his patience and good humour and to the
anonymous readers for Oxford University Press, whose extensive and
thoughtful comments have improved the contents of this book no end,
Iamdeeplygrateful.
Intermsofscholarship,thewritingsoftwoindividuals,inparticular,
demand singling out: first, Benjamin Morison, whose work on the
AenesidemanmodeshasmuchinfluencedmythinkingabouttheAgrip-
pan modes, and, second, Jonathan Barnes, whose pioneering Sextan
studies have provided the foil for much of the contents of this book.
AhastyreadermightbeforgivenforinferringthatIonlycitetheworkof
BarneswhenIwishtodisagreewithitorwhenIwishtocontrastapath
taken by Barnes with an alternative path down which I subsequently
tread. Nothing could be further from the truth. Though it will be plain
from the following pages just how much I owe to the writings of Julia
Annas, Richard Bett, Myles Burnyeat, Michael Frede, R. J. Hankinson,
Benjamin Morison, Casey Perin, and Gisela Striker, Jonathan Barnes’s
influencewillbeapparentonvirtuallyeverypage.
