uggests, accordingly, that the polemic of Sextus was
against contemporaries, those who accepted the philosophy of
Heraclitus in consequence of, or in some connection with, the
teachings of Aenesidemus. He entirely ignores the fact that
there is no trace of any such school or sect in history, calling
themselves followers of "Aenesidemus according to Heraclitus,"
but still thinks it possible that such a movement existed in
Alexandria at the time of Sextus, where so many different sects
were found. Sextus use Aenesidemus' name in four different
ways:--alone, [Greek: hoi peri ton Ainesidemon], [Greek:
Ainesidemos kath' Herakleiton], and in one instance [Greek: hoi
peri ton Ainesidemon kath' Herakleiton].[1]
[1] _Adv. Math._ VIII. 8.
Pappenheim advances the theory that some of these contemporaries
against whom Sextus directed his arguments had written a book
entitled [Greek: Ainesidemos kath' Herakleiton], to prove the
harmony between Aenesidemus and Heraclitus, and that it was from
this book that Sextus quoted the dogmatic statements which he
introduced with that formula. He claims, further, that the
passage quoted from _Hypotyposes I._ even, is directed
against contemporaries, who founded their system of proofs of
the harmony between Aenesidemus and Heraclitus on the connection
of the celebrated formula which was such a favourite with the
Sceptics: "Contrary predicates appear to apply to the same
thing," with the apparent deduction from this, that "Contrary
predicates in reality apply to the same thing." Sextus wishes,
according to Pappenheim, to prove to these contemporaries that
they had misunderstood Aenesidemus, and Sextus does not report
Aenesidemus to be a Dogmatic, nor to have taught the doctrines
of Heraclitus; neither has he misunderstood Aenesidemus, nor
consequently misrepresented him; but on the contrary, these
dogmatic quotations have nothing to do with Aenesidemus, but
refer altogether to contemporaries who pretended to be Sceptics
while they accepted the teachings of Heraclitus. Sextus
naturally warmly combats this tendency, as he wishes to preserve
Pyrrhonism pure.
Brochard advocates a change of opinion on the part of
Aenesidemus as an explanation of the difficulty in question.[1]
He starts from the supposition, the reasonableness of which we
shall consider later, that Aenesidemus had passed through one
change of opinion already when he severed his connection with
the New Academy; and to the t
|