Quotation
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“Suspension of judgement is a standstill of the intellect, owing to which we neither reject nor posit anything.”
Sextus Empiricus · Pyrrhonism · Ancient · c. 200 CE
What does it mean?
The usual reading treats suspension as a standstill: the intellect does not go on to say 'this is so' or 'this is not so'. A competing reading hears a refusal to think, or a secret belief that nothing is true, but neither rejecting nor positing is exactly the refusal of both of those moves. The definition is early in book 1, among the terms a reader needs before the arguments. It is a description of a stop, not a new theory of reality.
Did Sextus Empiricus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Annas and Barnes on epochē. The standstill is a result of equal opposition, defined two sections after the ability and before the modes.
Where it comes from
Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.10, in the Annas and Barnes translation
Approximate date: c. 200 CE.
How to use it
Two plumbers in Sheffield give opposite diagnoses and similar confidence. Suspension is not leaving the leak. It is declining, for the hour, to announce which person is a fraud. You can book a third visit. The standstill is about the verdict, and it is ruined if you have already posted the verdict in the group chat.
A mindset reading
Notice the difference between 'I do not know yet' and 'I have decided the question cannot be settled'. He is defining the first, reached because the accounts balanced, not a general ban on inquiry. If you are enjoying the standstill as an identity, you have posited something: that you are the uncommitted one. That pose is a new assertion.
Understand the philosophy
Epochē is the key term, a check on assent, taken over from earlier philosophy and given this calm definition. Sextus is blocking two mistakes: that the sceptic denies appearances, and that the sceptic affirms a hidden truth that nothing can be known. The standstill comes from equipollence. Without the balance, the word is just indecision with a Greek name.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading treats suspension as a standstill: the intellect does not go on to say 'this is so' or 'this is not so'. A competing reading hears a refusal to think, or a secret belief that nothing is true, but neither rejecting nor positing is exactly the refusal of both of those moves. The definition is early in book 1, among the terms a reader needs before the arguments. It is a description of a stop, not a new theory of reality.
Did Sextus Empiricus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Annas and Barnes on epochē. The standstill is a result of equal opposition, defined two sections after the ability and before the modes.
Which work is it in?
Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.10, in the Annas and Barnes translation Approximate date: c. 200 CE.