Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes, ed. Hermann Mutschmann, 2.11.124

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[124] Ἔτι μέντοι κακὲ ῥητέον. ῥητέον. ἤτοι φαινόμενα μόνον ἐστὶ τὰ σημεῖα ἢ ἄδηλα μόνον, ἢ τῶν σημείων τὰ μέν ἐστι φαινόμενα, τὰ δὲ ἄδηλα. οὐδὲν δὲ τούτων ἐστὶν ὑγιές·
οὐκ ἄρα ἔστι σημεῖον. ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἄδηλα οὐκ ἔστι πάντα τὰ σημεῖα, ἐντεῦθεν δείκνυται. τὸ ἄδηλον οὐκ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ φαίνεται, ὧς οἱ δογματικοί φασιν, ἀλλὰ δι’ ἑτέρου ὑποπίπτει. καὶ τὸ σημεῖον οὖν, εἰ ἄδηλον εἴη, ἑτέρου δεήσεται
σημείου ἀδήλου, ἐπεὶ μηδὲν φαινόμενόν ἐστι σημεῖον κατὰ τὴν προκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν, κἀκεῖνο ἄλλου, καὶ μέχρις ἀπείρου. ἀδύνατον δὲ ἄπειρα σημεῖα λαμβάνειν· ἀδύνατον ἄρα τὸ σημεῖον καταληφθῆναι ἄδηλον ὄν. διὰ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἀνύπαρκτον ἔσται, μὴ δυνάμενον σημαίνειν τι καὶ σημεῖον
εἶναι διὰ τὸ μὴ καταλαμβάνεσθαι.

Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes. Sextus Empiricus. ed. Hermann Mutschmann. Germany. 2014.

Current edition First1KGreek

Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes (Greek) (Sextus Empiricus. Sexti Empiricii Opera, Volume 1. Mutschmann, Hermann, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1912.)

Translations (1)

Outlines of Pyrrhonism First1KGreek (Sextus Empiricus, Vol. 1. Bury, Robert Gregg, translator. London: William Heinemann Ltd.; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1933.) — 2.11.124 focus

[124] But there is this further to be said. Either the signs are apparent only or non-evident only, or some are apparent and some non-evident.¹ But none of these alternatives is valid; therefore sign does not exist.

Now that all the signs are not non-evident is shown by the following argument. The non-evident does not become apparent of itself, as the Dogmatists assert, but is perceived by means of something else. The sign, therefore, if it were non-evident, would require another non-evident sign—since, according to the hypothesis assumed, there is no apparent sign —and this again a third, and so on ad infinitum. But it is impossible to grasp an infinite series of signs; and so it is impossible for the sign to be apprehended when it is non-evident. And for this reason it will also be unreal, as it is unable to signify anything and to be a sign owing to its not being apprehended.

Sextus Empiricus Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes 2.11.124

ed. Hermann Mutschmann

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