2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Studies on Hellenistic Epistemology, Logic and Philosophy of Language in Sextus Empirics
| Project/Area Number |
16520028
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Philosophy/Ethics
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| Research Institution | Osaka Medical College |
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Principal Investigator |
KANAYAMA Mariko Osaka Medical College, Faculty of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (10093189)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KANAYAMA Yasuhira Nagoya University, Graduate School of Letters, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (00192542)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | doubt / epistemology / propositional logic / Sextus Empiricus / Academics / Pyrrhonism / Stoics / Epicureans |
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| Research Abstract |
The first object of this project was to complete a Greek to Japanese translation of Sextus Empiricus, Against Logicians, and to obtain new suggestions through it for further research in this field. This work contains many skeptical arguments, which made philosophers in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries concentrate on problems of epistemology, thereby determining the direction of the coming trend of western philosophy. We could publish the translation (the first Japanese translation) in August 2006 from Kyoto University Press. It gives also detailed explanations of dogmatist positions of such philosophers as Stoics and Epicureans. Sextus' extant works are valuable resources for dogmatist philosophers whose original works are now lost. Our translation will be thus an indispensable tool for future research in this field.
We also considered the question of philosophical milieu that surrounded Sextus and his originality. Among his sources, we can count Aenesidemus (Pyrrhonist), Antiochus (Academic), Posidonius (Stoic), Philodemus (Epicurean) and Asclepiades (medical doctor). They were all active in the first century BC. This suggests that philosophy and various kinds of learning flourished just around that time and furnished Sextus with good targets to attack. Sextus himself was a great philosopher. He was not a mere reporter valuable only as a historical source, but was a master Pyrrhonist. He could make very effective use of works of his predecessors for the skeptical purpose of 'opposing to every account an equal account' (Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.18), on the basis of his deep understanding of their doctrines and his keen ability of criticism.
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Research Products
(12 results)
