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Headword: Ouden mallon
Adler number: omicron,802
Translated headword: no more (this than that)
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
The Sceptics, that is the Pyrrhonists, while overturning all the dogmas of the schools, for themselves declare nothing dogmatically. To display their deliberateness they explain the assertions [of other thinkers], just as it would be possible for those to do who accepted [the assertions]. By means of no determined utterance[2] they show a situation of equilibrium; and similarly too, by means of the utterance "no more [this than that]" and the utterance "an argument can be opposed to every argument", and similar utterances. Now the expression "no more [this than that]" can also be said positively, insofar as some things are similar. For instance, "the pirate is no worse than the liar". But this is said negatively by the Sceptics, not positively, as when one refutes someone by saying "Scylla no more has existed than has the Chimera". And the same expression "more than" [to\ ma=llon] sometimes is used comparatively, as when we say "honey is sweeter than grapes". And sometimes the expression "more than" is used both positively and negatively, as when we say "virtue benefits more than it harms". For we mean that virtue benefits and that it does not harm. However, the Sceptics also deny the very utterance "no more [this than that]", for just as providence is no more than it is not, so too the expression "no more [this than that]" is no more than it is not. Therefore, the utterance ["no more this than that"] means to determine nothing and to refuse to give assent.[3] And the utterance "an argument can be opposed to every argument" also concludes with suspension of judgement [e)poxh/].[4] For when the things are controversial but the arguments have equal force, ignorance of truth follows. There are ten modes, according to which the foundations [of something] were declared to contain some variation.[5]
Greek Original:
Ouden mallon: hoti hoi Skeptikoi, toutestin hoi Purrôneioi, ta tôn haireseôn dogmata panta anatrepontes autoi ouden apophainontai dogmatikôs: prospherontai de apophaseis eis mênusin tês aproptôsias, hôs ei kai neusantas touto enedecheto dêlôsai. dia tês ouden horizomenês phônês to tês arepsias pathos dêloutai: homoiôs de kai dia tês, ouden mallon, kai tês, panti logôi logos antikeitai, kai tais homoiais. legetai de to ouden mallon thetikôs, hôs homoiôn tinôn ontôn: hoion, outhen mallon ho peiratês kakos estin ê ho pseustês. hupo de tôn Skeptikôn ou thetikôs, all' anairetikôs legetai: hôs hupo tou anaskeuazontos kai legontos, ou mallon hê Skulla gegonen ê Chimaira. auto de to mallon pote men sunkritikôs ekpheretai: hôs hotan phômen, mallon to meli gluku ê tên staphida: pote de thetikôs kai anairetikôs: hôs hotan legômen, mallon hê aretê ôphelei ê blaptei. sêmainomen gar, hoti hê aretê ôphelei, blaptei d' ou. anairousi d' hoi Skeptikoi kai autên tên ouden mallon phônên: hôs gar, ou mallon esti pronoia, ê ouk esti: houtô kai to, ouden mallon estin, ê ouk esti. sêmainei oun hê phônê to mêden horizein, all' aprosthetein. hê de panti logôi phônê kai autê sunagei tên epochên. tôn men gar pragmatôn diaphônountôn, tôn de logôn isosthenountôn, agnôsia tês alêtheias epakolouthei. eisi deka tropoi, kath' hous ta huperkeimena parallattonta apephaineto.
Notes:
This entry reproduces (with some minor but representative changes) Diogenes Laertius 9.74-76. See also already mu 115.
[2] Diog.Laert. has "we determine nothing" (ou)de\n o(ri/zomen).
[3] This assertion is attributed to the Pyrrhonist Timon of Phlius (320-230 BCE), and it would have been included in his work Pytho (see Diog.Laert. 9.76).
[4] Or "withholding of assent".
[5] The sceptic modes are manners of introducing suspension of judgement (Annas & Barnes, 1985, 19-30). They are listed by Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism 1.36-38; I follow Annas & Barnes translation in their 1985): (1) the mode depending on the variations among animals; (2) the mode depending on the differences among humans; (3) the mode depending on the differing constitutions of the sense-organs; (4) that depending on circumstances; (5) that depending on positions and intervals and places; (6) that depending on admixtures; (7) that depending on the quantities and preparation of existing things; (8) that deriving from relativity; (9) that depending on frequent or rare encounters; and (10) that depending on lifestyle and customs and laws. These modes are partially accounted for both in Sextus (Outlines 1.40-163) and Diog.Laert. 9.79-88. All these passages (plus some important ones in Philo of Alexandria, 25 BC-50 AD) are translated and commented on in Annas & Barnes 1985. An excellent and complete introduction to ancient scepticism can be found in Mates, 1996, 4-85.
References:
J. Annas & J. Barnes, The Modes of Scepticism. Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretation (Cambridge/London/New York/New Rochelle/Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge University Press), 1985
B. Mates, The Skeptic Way. Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1996
Keywords: definition; ethics; food; mythology; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: Marcelo Boeri on 5 May 2000@15:56:31.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (cosmetics, status) on 6 February 2004@00:56:15.
Catharine Roth (more slight changes in the translation) on 6 February 2004@00:58:29.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 6 February 2004@03:08:11.
David Whitehead (x-ref; more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 31 July 2013@05:29:15.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 2 August 2013@15:32:28.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 4 July 2020@01:42:08.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 4 July 2020@01:43:53.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 20 February 2021@23:14:39.
Catharine Roth (more tweaks) on 21 February 2021@19:26:52.

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