Aspirationalism in Pyrrho’s Project of Living Suspensively

Abstract

Pyrrho of Elis is reported to have held that, given the nature of things, we ought to be adoxastous (without opinion); yet living free of all opinions may seem to be a psychological impossibility. That is the interpretive puzzle I wish to address. Drawing on a well-known passage from Diogenes Laertius’ “Life of Pyrrho,” I argue that Pyrrho’s view that we ought to live suspensively should be understood as an aspirationalist project of self-transformation.

Keywords: Pyrrho, Aristocles passage, adoxastous, aspirationalism