δ′ περὶ αἰτίου.

[13] Ἲνα δὲ μὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς βλασφημεῖν ἐπιχειρήσωσιν οἱ δογματικοὶ δι’ ἀπορίαν τοῦ πραγματικῶς ἡμῖν ἀντιλέγειν, ¹ 122 κοινότερον περὶ τοῦ ἐνεργητικοῦ αἰτίου διαπορήσομεν, πρότερον
ἐπιστῆσαι πειραθέντες τῇ τοῦ αἰτίου ἐπινοίᾳ. ὅσον μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑπὸ τῶν δογματικῶν οὐδ’ ἂν ἐννοῆσαί τις τὸ αἴτιον δύναιτο, εἴγε πρὸς τῷ διαφώνους καὶ ἀλλοκότους ἐννοίας τοῦ αἰτίου <ἀποδίδοσθαι> ἔτι καὶ ὑπόστασιν αὐτοῦ πεποιήκασιν ἀνεύρετον διὰ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸ
διαφωνίαν.

[14] οἱ μὲν γὰρ σῶμα, οἱ δὲ ἀσώματον τὸ αἴτιον εἶναί φασιν. δόξαι δ’ ἂν αἴτιον εἶναι κοινότερον κατ’ αὐτοὺς δι’ ὃ ἐνεργοῦν γίνεται τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, οἷον ὧς ὁ ἥλιος ἢ ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου θερμότης τοῦ χεῖσθαι τὸν κηρὸν ἢ τῆς χύσεως τοῦ κηροῦ. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ διαπεφωνήκασιν,
οἱ μὲν προσηγοριῶν αἴτιον εἶναι τὸ αἴτιον φάσκοντες, οἶον τῆς χύσεως, οἱ δὲ κατηγορημάτων, οἶον τοῦ χεῖσθαι. διό, καθάπερ εἶπον, κοινότερον ἂν εἴη τὸ αἴτιον τοῦτο δι’ ὃ ἐνεργοῦν γίνεται τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα.

[15] τούτων δὲ τῶν αἰτίων οἱ μὲν πλείους ἡγοῦνται τὰ μὲν
συνεκτικὰ εἶναι, τὰ δὲ συναίτια, τὰ δὲ συνεργά, καὶ συνεκτικὰ μὲν ὑπάρχειν ὡν παρόντων πάρεστι τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα καὶ αἰρομένων αἴρεται καὶ μειουμένων μειοῦται (οὕτω γὰρ τὴν περίθεσιν τῆς στραγγάλης αἴτιον εἶναί φασι τοῦ πνιγμοῦ), συναίτιον δὲ ὃ τὴν ² ἲσην εἰσφέρεται δύναμιν ἑτέρῳ συναιτίῳ πρὸς τὸ
εἶναι τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα οὓτω <γὰρ> ἕκαστον ³ ἑλκόντων τὸ ἄροτρον βοῶν αἴτιον εἶναί φασι τῆς ὁλκῆς τοῦ ἀρότρου), συνεργὸν δὲ ὃ βραχεῖαν εἰσφέρεται δύναμιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ μετὰ ῥᾳστώνης ὑπάρχειν τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, οἶον ὅταν δυοῖν βάρος
τι βασταζόντων μόλις τρίτος τις προσελθὼν συγκουφίσῃ τοῦτο.

[16] ἔνιοι μέντοι καὶ παρόντα μελλόντων τῶν αἴτια ἔφασαν εἶναι, ὧς τὰ προκαταρκτικά, οἶον τὴν ἐπιτεταμένην ἡλίωσιν πυρετοῦ. τινὲς δὲ ταῦτα
παρῃτήσαντο, ἐπειδὴ τὸ αἴτιον πρός τι ὑπάρχον καὶ πρὸς ⁴ 123 τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα ὂν οὐ δύναται προηγεῖσθαι αὐτοῦ ὧς αἴτιον. ἐν δὲ τῇ περὶ αὐτῶν διαπορήσει τοιάδε λέγομεν.

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.) — 3.4 focus

Chapter IV.—Concerning Cause

[13] To prevent the Dogmatists attempting also to slander us,¹ because of their inability to refute us in a practical way, we shall discuss the question of the efficient Cause more at large when we have first tried to give attention to the conception of Cause. Now so far as the statements of the Dogmatists are concerned, it would be impossible for anyone even to conceive Cause, since, in addition to offering discrepant and contradictory conceptions of Cause, they have rendered its substance also indiscoverable by their disagreement about it.

[14] For some affirm Cause to be corporeal, others incorporeal.² In the broad sense, a Cause would seem to be, according to them, ‟That by whose energizing the effect comes about;”³ as, for example, the sun or the sun’s heat is the cause of the wax being melted or of the melting of the wax. For even on this point they are at variance, some declaring that Cause is causal of nouns, such as ‟the melting,” others of predicates, such as ‟being melted.” Hence, as I said, in the broad sense Cause will be ‟that by whose energizing the effect comes about.”

[15] The majority of them hold that of these Causes some are immediate,⁴ some associate, some co- operant; and that causes are ‟immediate” when their presence involves the presence, and their removal the removal, and their decrease the decrease, of the effect (it is thus, they say, that the fixing on of the halter causes the strangling); and that an ‟associate” cause is one which contributes a force equal to that of its fellow-cause towards the production of the effect (it is thus, they say, that each of the oxen which draw the plough is a cause of the drawing of the plough); and that a ‟co-operant” cause is one which contributes a slight force towards the easy production of the effect, as in the case when two men are lifting a heavy load with difficulty the assistance of a third helps to lighten it.

[16] Some of them, however, have asserted further that things present are causes of things future, being ‟antecedents;” as when intense exposure to the sun causes fever. But this view is rejected by some, on the ground that, since the Cause is relative to something existent and to a real effect, it cannot precede it as its cause.⁵

As regards this controversy, our position is as follows:

Notes on the current edition

Pyrrhoniae hypotyposes

1. 14 a ἀεὶ post προνοεῖ add. Τ (providet semper) 29 οὐδὲν L 30 καταλαμβάνεται Τ (apprehenditur) : καταλαμβάνει G 1 ἀσεβεῖν ML: ἀσεβεῖς EAB: impii Τ ΙΙ ὀνομάζονται T (appellantur) 7 ἀναγκάσωσιν T (compellant)

2. 9a

3. 0a

4. 9 κοινῶς Pappenheim dubit. 13 add. T (de causa assignant) cf. p. 123, 23. 14 περὶ αὐτοῦ Kayser 20 τὸ αἴτιον Gen. : τὸ ἀγγεῖον GT (vas) 29 αἴτιον Τ (causam): αἴτιος G
γὰρ add. T (sic enim) cf. v. 28 30 a συναίτιον Kayser, at cf. V. 29 1 τι et τις om. T

Sextus Empiricus Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes 3.4

ed. Hermann Mutschmann

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δ′ περὶ αἰτίου.

Current edition First1KGreek

Chapter IV.—Concerning Cause

Notes on the current edition

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