Sextus Empiricus: Against Those in the Disciplines: Translated with introduction and notes

This is the first complete English translation of Sextus Empiricus’ Against Those in the Disciplines that includes substantial interpretive aids for the reader. The work discusses six specialized fields of study: grammar, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astrology, and music. Without such interpretive aids, it is very hard to understand unless one is knowledgeable about these fields as they existed in antiquity (which very few readers of Sextus are). With them, one can appreciate this work as a good specimen of Sextus’ usual sceptical method: inducing suspension of judgement about the topics under consideration. The book includes a translation of the work into clear modern English, accompanied by extensive explanatory notes, information on the persons referred to, and other aids to comprehension. An introduction discusses the place of Against Those in the Disciplines in the totality of Sextus’ work, and examines various features distinctive to it.