Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:40:02.503Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 14 - Theory of knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

R. W. Sharples
Affiliation:
University College London
Get access

Summary

Aristocles, On Philosophyf4.10 Chiesara, reported by Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 14.18.19

And when [the Pyrrhonian Sceptics] say that all things are unclear, it is worth asking from where they actually learned this. For they must first know what the clear is; for on this [basis] at least they would be able to say that things are not like this. For it is necessary to know the positive statement first, and [only] then the negative one. But if they do not know what the clear is like, they cannot know what the unclear is, either.

Aristocles, On Philosophyf6.9–10 Chiesara, reported by Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 14.20.9–10

(1) But since even now there are some [the Epicureans] who say that every sensation and every impression is true, let us say a little about them also. These people seem to be afraid that if they said that some sensations are false, they would not have a criterion or rule that was firm or reliable. (2) But they do not see that thus they are immediately saying that all opinions, too, are true. For we naturally judge many things by these. But none the less they judge that some [opinions] are true, others false. (3) Next, if someone considered, he would see that not even of the other criteria is any free from falsity always and throughout, I mean, for example, a balance and compasses, and the like. But each of them is sound when it is in one condition, faulty when it is in another, and when it is used in one way it gives the true answer, in another way a false one. (4) Indeed, if every sensation were true, they ought not to be so different. For they are different when close at hand and far away, in the sick and the healthy, in craftsmen and in laymen, in the wise and in the foolish. (5) It would be altogether absurd to say that the sensations of the mad are true, and of those who mis-see and mis-hear. For it would be simple-minded to say that the person who mis-sees either sees [the object] or does not see it; for one could reply that he sees [it], but [does so] incorrectly.

Type
Chapter
Information
Peripatetic Philosophy, 200 BC to AD 200
An Introduction and Collection of Sources in Translation
, pp. 101 - 108
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Theory of knowledge
  • R. W. Sharples, University College London
  • Book: Peripatetic Philosophy, 200 BC to AD 200
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781506.018
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Theory of knowledge
  • R. W. Sharples, University College London
  • Book: Peripatetic Philosophy, 200 BC to AD 200
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781506.018
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Theory of knowledge
  • R. W. Sharples, University College London
  • Book: Peripatetic Philosophy, 200 BC to AD 200
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781506.018
Available formats
×