The History of Why

Concept

2 readings

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Ataraxia

Concept · 2 readings

Epicurean and Pyrrhonian accounts both describe freedom from disturbance, but they reach it by different arguments. An expected benefit does not prove either argument true.

All readings

2 readings · Title A–Z

  • Guided course · Module 5 · Lesson 25

    Pleasure, virtue and what is up to us

    Epicurus teaches how to choose among pleasures; Epictetus separates what is up to us, our judgments, from results that are not. Similar practical advice, the lesson shows, can rest on different views of what makes a life good.

  • Guided course · Module 5 · Lesson 26

    What if inquiry does not settle the dispute?

    Sextus Empiricus gives reasons for suspending judgment while inquiry continues, and shows how a skeptic can still act. His challenge is set beside Plato’s search for a starting point that rests on no assumption.