Pyrrhonism is a school of ancient philosophical skepticism named after Pyrrho of Elis, who is said to have traveled with Alexander the Great to India and to have been influenced by the thinkers he met there. Its followers argued that for every argument there is an equally strong opposing argument, and recommended suspending judgment, a state called epoché. They believed that this led to ataraxia, or freedom from disturbance, and to a calm way of life. Pyrrho's follower Timon of Phlius spread his ideas, and the school was revived by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE. Its main surviving source is the work of the physician Sextus Empiricus, whose writings strongly influenced European thought in the Renaissance.
Before and after
- 10 June 323 BCEDeath of Alexander the Great
- from 322 BCE to 74 BCEBithynia
- from 322 BCE to 185 BCEMaurya empire
- 322 BCEDeath of Aristotle
- c. 320 BCERise of pyrrhonism
- 313 BCEThe Appian Way and the first Roman aqueduct
- 312 BCEConstruction of Appian Way
- from 312 BCE to 63 BCESeleucid Empire
- from 311 BCE to 309 BCEBabylonian War
More in Society, economy & sport
- 7th century BCEIntroduction of tetradrachm
- from 550 BCE to 366 BCEFounding of Peloponnesian League
- 5th century BCEFounding of Aetolian League
- from 280 BCE to 146 BCEFounding of Achaean League
- from 165 CE to 180 CEAntonine Plague
- 23 February 303 CEThe Great Persecution of Christians begins
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century BCE.