Aither 31/2024:4-25 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2024.007

Role Agrippových trópů v Sextových Πυρρωνείων ὑποτυπώσεων: nahrazení nebo doplnění Ainesidémových trópů?

Grigoris Vasiliadis

Filozofická fakulta Ostravské univerzity v Ostravě

The so-called Five Modes of Agrippa – the first of discrepancy, the second of regress ad infinitum, the third of relativity, the fourth of hypothesis, and the fifth of reciprocity – are reported by only two surviving ancient sources; Diogenes Laertius attributes them to the otherwise unknown Agrippa. We can only assume that Agrippa was an important systematic philosopher of the later Pyrrhonian scepticism and that he (together with his followers or disciples) wrote a set of the Five Modes. Sextus Empiricus makes no mention of Agrippa in his writings; and he attributes the Five Modes only to the later Sceptics, as opposed to the older Sceptics who supposedly introduced the Ten (Aenesidemusʼ) Modes. This paper deals with the Five Modes of Agrippa, their argumentation structure and their role in the work of Sextus Empiricus. The argumentation
of the Five Modes remains a crucial issue in epistemology, traditionally known as the epistemic regress or infinite regress problem. Sextus explicitly writes in Pyrrh. hyp. that the Five Modes of Agrippa were not intended to reject the Ten Modes of Aenesidemus, but were propounded to complement them with more variety, in order to demonstrate the self-conceit and rashness of the dogmatists. The specific subject of this text is the analysis of the argumentation interface between Aenesidemusʼ and Agrippaʼs Modes; this analysis is important for understanding the relevant context of Sextusʼ approach to Pyrrhonic scepticism.

Received: December 8, 2023; Revised: March 21, 2024; Accepted: April 17, 2024; Published: January 11, 2025  Show citation