Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius (Greek-English) SAPERE XXV (Mohr Siebeck, 2015). Edited by Katja Maria Vogt. Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary and Interpretative Essays by Katja Maria Vogt, Richard Bett, Lorenzo Corti, Tiziano Dorandi, Christiana M. M. Olfert, Elisabeth Scharffenberger, David Sedley, James Warren
Pyrrhonian skepticism has gradually gained a stellar reputation. Rather than being dismissed as extremist and evidently implausible, as it often was in the past, it is now recognized as a philosophically sophisticated outlook, sympathetic to today’s commitment to science as a long-term enterprise. Ancient skepticism is now seen as an important position in the history of philosophy and as addressing core questions in epistemology. It is worthwhile to be studied by anyone interested in the nature of investigation, knowledge, belief, language and action.
The volume is part of the SAPERE series, which aims to make lesser known ancient texts accessible to a wider audience. Leading experts contribute to this book, which offers a philosophical introduction, translation and commentary as well as scholarly essays on one of the most important texts about Pyrrhonian skepticism, Diogenes Laertius’ report about Pyrrho and Timon in his Lives of Eminent Philosophers.
The book begins with a philosophical introduction by the volume editor Katja Maria Vogt. It offers Tiziano Dorandi’s version of the Greek text; a translation and commentary by Elizabeth Scharffenberger and Katja Maria Vogt; a general account of Diogenes’ presentation of skepticism by Richard Bett; an essay on ancestry and precursors to skepticism in Greek poetry and Pre-Socratic philosophy by James Warren; a discussion of the skeptic’s language by Lorenzo Corti; a paper on skeptical investigation by Christiana Olfert; and an analysis of the skeptical modes of argument by David Sedley.