Pirroniana

Forty years after the appearance of the pioneering study Pirrone. Testimonianze, devoted to the late 4th-century BCE philosopher Pyrrho, who wrote nothing but gave his name to a centuries-long sceptical tradition, a revised edition is being published, together with an English translation of the textual fragments by Mauro Bonazzi and David Sedley. Framing it are three additional essays by the author, aimed at bringing into focus some key points in the discussion of Pyrrhonism and Scepticism. The first of these essays, Prolegomena to a collection of the sources for Pyrrho of Elis (1980), analyses the sources for Pyrrho’s teachings, and reviews the interpretations of modern scholars, relocating Pyrrho’s characteristic themes into his own historical era. The second, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonians and Pyrrhonism (1996), offers an overview of the criteria used in the collection of ‘testimonies’: the author critically evaluates the results reached in her own edition, discussing the pros and cons of her choices and noting some omissions. The third, Sextus and the Sceptics (1992), systematically analyses Sextus’ terminology for referring to the philosophers of the Sceptical tradition.