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Patrick, Mary Mills, 1850-1940

"Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism"

According to the first one
everything in question is either sensible or intellectual, and
in attempting to judge it either in life, practically, or "among
philosophers," a position is developed from which it is
impossible to reach a conclusion.[7] According to the second,
every proof requires another proof, and so on to infinity, and
there is no standpoint from which to begin the reasoning.[8]
According to the third, all perceptions are relative, as the
object is colored by the condition of the judge, and the
influence of other things around it.[9] According to the fourth,
it is impossible to escape from the _regressus in infinitum_ by
making a hypothesis the starting point, as the Dogmatics attempt
to do.[10] And the fifth, or the _circulus in probando_, arises
when that which should be the proof needs to be sustained by the
thing to be proved.
[1] _Hyp._ I. 164.
[2] Diog. IX. 11, 88.
[3] Diog. IX. 11, 106.
[4] Diog. IX. 12, 115-116.
[5] Compare Natorp. _Op. cit._ p. 302.
[6] _Hyp._ I. 177.
[7] _Hyp._ I. 165.
[8] _Hyp._ I. 166.
[9] _Hyp._ I. 167.
[10] _Hyp._ I. 168.
Sextus claims that all things can be included in these Tropes,
whether sensible or intellectual.[1] For whether, as some say,
only the things of sense are true, or as others claim, only
those of the understanding, or as still others contend, some
things both of sense and understanding are true, a discord must
arise that is impossible to be judged, for it cannot be judged
by the sensible, nor by the intellectual, for the things of the
intellect themselves require a proof; accordingly, the result of
all reasoning must be either hypothetical, or fall into the
_regressus in infinitum_ or the _circulus in probando_.


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