• Ancient skepticism. Although the writings Sextus Empiricus are a prime source of information about the views of many ancient philosophers, little is known about his life. He is thought to have lived in the 2nd century of our era, but the sort of skepiticism he supports dates to Pyrrho of Elis, who was born about 60 years after Plato. His views were revived and developed by Aenesidemus, who lived in the 1st century BCE (and thus about halfway between Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus). Pyrrhonism was not the only ancient skeptical school. The Academy, the school founded by Plato, was led in the centruy before Aenesidemus by philosophers—among them Carneades and Clitomachus—who are referred to by Sextus Empiricus as the “Academic School” and who are now usually referred to as the “Academic Skeptics.”

• Greek in chs. 2 and 3. Sextus’ description of what he calls the “general method” in ch. 2 is a pretty good outline of what we will discuss this week. The phrase “the aspects of doubt” is one way of translating the Greek phrase that follows it; and the aspects or modes of skepticism are the “tropes”—τρόποι (tropoi), ‘ways’ or ‘modes’—that are the topic of chs. 14-17. (If you’ve run into the term “trope,” it is probably in connection with figures of speech; that’s a different, though related, development of the original Greek term.) Sextus’ tropes lead to the suspension or withholding of judgment, and ‘suspension of judgment’ is the usual way of translating ἐποχή (epoche), the Greek term that will appear most often. Sextus speaks of epoche in ch. 3 along with another Greek term, ἀταραξία (ataraxia), tranquility or imperturbability, that also appears many times untranslated. The phrase ἰσοσθένεια τῶν λόγων (isostheneia ton logon)—literally, ‘equal strength of reasons’—won’t appear again after ch. 3, but the idea that is attached to it in ch. 3 is another important one. The final Greek term in ch. 2—δύναμις (dynamis), ‘force’ or ‘power’, is less important and will also not reappear.

• Other Greek words and phrases. The word logon in isostheneia ton logon is a form of the noun λόγος (logos), which has many uses in Greek but here refers to reasons or arguments. At the end of ch. 13, Sextus pairs its plural λόγοι (logoi) with the term tropoi to speak of the tropes he will discuss in in the following chapters. Only a couple of the other Greek terms are philosophically significant. The term φάσις (phasis) and the related form φάσεις, which appear in ch. 20, refer to speech. Sextus will say more specifically what he means by them since he presents them as the opposite of the “Aphasia” practiced by skeptics. Finally, the phrase φαντασία καταληπτική (phantasia kataleptike), which appears at section 68 in ch. 14 (and again in ch. 33), is a technical term used by Stoic philosophers (who Sextus speaks of as the “Dogmatics of the Stoa”). The meaning they gave it is hard to capture in a translation, but the phrase literally means something like ‘grasped appearance’, and the Stoics used it to refer to a certain group of sense impressions that they held to be reliable.

The remaining Greek words and phrases all appear in the discussion of the 10th trope in ch. 14. This trope contrasts norms, customs, and laws; and the untranslated phrases refer sexual behavior. Having sex in public is the reference of several (in sections 146, 148, and 153), but there are also references to homosexual acts and incest (both in section 152). The last reference to sex in public has a connection to ancient philosophy. It contrasts the customary prohibition that Sextus has referred to earlier with the reputed behavior of a husband and wife, Crates and Hipparchia, who were both philosophers associated with the school known as “Cynics” (the Diogenes referred to just after is Diogenes of Sinope, a younger contemporary of Plato who is the best-known representative of the school). The rejection of social convention was one of the central tenets of Cynicism. (If it seems odd that such minimal references to sexual activity would be kept disguised, remember that this translation dates from another era: for example, at the time it was published, it was illegal in Britain to stage the ancient tragedy Oedipus Tyrannus because it contained references to incest.)