e._, that the phenomena do not reveal
the unknown.
The Sceptics did not deny the phenomena, but they denied that
the phenomena are signs capable of being interpreted, or of
revealing the reality of causes. It is impossible by a research
of the signs to find out the unknown, or the explanation of
things, as the Stoics and Epicureans claim. The theory of
Aenesidemus which lies at the foundation of his eight Tropes
against aetiology, is given to us by Photius as follows:[1]
"There are no visible signs of the unknown, and those who
believe in its existence are the victims of a vain illusion."
This statement of Aenesidemus is confirmed by a fuller
explanation of it given later on by Sextus.[2] If phenomena are
not signs of the unknown there is no causality, and a refutation
of causality is a proof of the impossibility of science, as all
science is the science of causes, the power of studying causes
from effects, or as Sextus calls them, phenomena.
It is very noticeable to any one who reads the refutation of
causality by Aenesidemus, as given by Sextus,[3] that there is
no reference to the strongest argument of modern Scepticism,
since the time of Hume, against causality, namely that the
origin of the idea of causality cannot be so accounted for as to
justify our relying upon it as a form of cognition.[4]
[1] _Myriob._ 170 B. 12.
[2] _Adv. Math._ VIII. 207.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 180-186.
[4] Ueberweg _Op. cit._ p. 217.
The eight Tropes are directed against the possibility of
knowledge of nature, which Aenesidemus contested against in all
his Tropes, the ten as well as the eight.
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