The system of Heraclitus offers a solution, and he
accepts it. Contradictory predicates produce equilibrium in the
soul because they are an expression of reality.
[1] Brochard _Op. cit._ 272.
As a Sceptic he claims that knowledge is impossible, and he does
not find that the statement of Heraclitus disproves this, but
rather that it supports his theory. He had denied the existence
of science. He still does so, but now he knows why he denies it.
Brochard asks why it is any more impossible that Aenesidemus
should have been a follower of Heraclitus than that Protagoras
was so, as Protagoras was after all a Sceptic. In conclusion,
Brochard claims that the dogmatic theories attributed to
Aenesidemus relate to the doctrine of the truth of contradictory
predicates, which seemed to him a logical explanation of the
foundation theories of Scepticism. It is right to call him a
Sceptic, for he was so, and that sincerely; and he deserves his
rank as one of the chiefs of the Sceptical School.
Coming now to the opinion of Zeller,[1] we find that he
advocates a misconception of Aenesidemus on the part of Sextus.
The whole difficulty is removed, Zeller thinks, by the simple
fact that Sextus had not understood Aenesidemus; and as
Tertullian and Sextus agree in this misconception of the views
of Aenesidemus, they must have been misled by consulting a
common author in regard to Aenesidemus, who confused what
Aenesidemus said of Heraclitus with his own opinion.
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