The Rediscovery and Posthumous Influence of Skepticism

Abstract

The history of the transmission, recovery and posthumous influence of ancient skepticism is a fascinating chapter in the history of ideas. An extraordinary collection of philosophical texts and some of the most challenging arguments ever devised were first lost, then only partly recovered philologically, and finally rediscovered conceptually, leaving Cicero and Sextus Empiricus as the main champions of Academic and Pyrrhonian skepticism respectively. This chapter outlines what we know about this shipwreck and what was later salvaged from it.

Keywords: Skepticism, Cicero, Sextus Empiricus, Academic Skepticism, Pyrrhonian Skepticism