Quotation
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“The chief constitutive principle of scepticism is that to every account an equal account is opposed.”
Sextus Empiricus · Pyrrhonism · Ancient · c. 200 CE
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that scepticism, as Sextus describes it, sets an equal account against every account and therefore suspends judgement, aiming at freedom from dogmatic turmoil. A competing reading says the principle of equal weight is itself a doctrine, so the sceptic has smuggled in a claim while pretending only to practise. The sentence is his own definition in Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.12. It is a description of a practice, not the thesis that nothing is true.
Did Sextus Empiricus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Close translation of Sextus's own description of scepticism. 'Account' renders logos. He is describing a practice, not a doctrine that nothing is true.
Where it comes from
Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.12
Approximate date: c. 200 CE.
How to use it
When a planning objection feels obvious, write the best argument on the other side until it is actually good: the neighbour's light, the street's parking, the need for the extension. If you cannot, you do not yet know the strength of your own case. The exercise is that writing, not a pose of having no view.
A mindset reading
Suspension is not a shrug, and it is not a claim to know that knowledge is impossible. It is a response to arguments that really match. The habit is to build the opposing account until it has weight, and only then notice whether you still have a verdict.
Understand the philosophy
Sextus is answering what scepticism is, against people who take it for a negative dogma. Logos here means an account or argument, and equipollence is his term for equal strength on both sides, with epochē, suspension, as the result. He thinks ataraxia, an untroubled life, arrives as a side effect when you stop forcing the verdict. That is a different practice from modern doubt worn as a personality.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that scepticism, as Sextus describes it, sets an equal account against every account and therefore suspends judgement, aiming at freedom from dogmatic turmoil. A competing reading says the principle of equal weight is itself a doctrine, so the sceptic has smuggled in a claim while pretending only to practise. The sentence is his own definition in Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.12. It is a description of a practice, not the thesis that nothing is true.
Did Sextus Empiricus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Close translation of Sextus's own description of scepticism. 'Account' renders logos. He is describing a practice, not a doctrine that nothing is true.
Which work is it in?
Outlines of Pyrrhonism I.12 Approximate date: c. 200 CE.