Against the Physicists
{"WorkMasterId":7380,"WpPageId":288224,"ParentWpPageId":193744,"Slug":"against-the-physicists","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/sextus-empiricus/against-the-physicists/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/sextus-empiricus/against-the-physicists/","HasFullText":false,"RawHtmlLength":68209,"CleanHtmlLength":15367,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Against the Physicists","Deck":"Sextus examines dogmatic physical and metaphysical doctrines about causes, bodies, motion, time, place, god, and the cosmos, arguing that rival accounts fail to secure assent.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Sextus Empiricus","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/sextus-empiricus/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Sextus Empiricus","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/sextus-empiricus/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/sextus-empiricus-01-riedel-engraving-1801.jpg","ImageAlt":"Sextus Empiricus in an 1801 Riedel engraving","FilterTerra":"Egypt","ClickText":"Sextus Empiricus","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/sextus-empiricus/","Copies":["160 CE – 210 CE","Alexandria (probable)","Greek Pyrrhonian skeptic from Alexandria (probable) whose works preserve ancient arguments about suspension, signs, proof, criteria, and life without dogmatic certainty."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:1","Title":"Ancient History","DateText":"3000 BCE – 499 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:3","Title":"Classical Antiquity","DateText":"500 BCE – 499 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/philosophers-of-classical-antiquity/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"200 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 200 CE as an approximate sorting proxy; exact composition date is uncertain.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:4"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:15"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:EGY:4"}],"OriginalTitle":"Πρὸς φυσικούς","Language":"Greek","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:metaphysics"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:philosophy-of-science"}],"Tradition":"Pyrrhonism, ancient Greek skepticism, Hellenistic and Roman philosophy, empirical medicine, epistemology, logic, ethics, metaphysics, signs, proof, criterion debates, and Renaissance skeptical reception","FullText":null,"CoreThesis":["Sextus examines dogmatic physical and metaphysical doctrines about causes, bodies, motion, time, place, god, and the cosmos, arguing that rival accounts fail to secure assent."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Adversus Mathematicos IX-X; Against the Physicists I-II; Against Physicists","KeyConcepts":"physics; metaphysics; causes; time; place; motion; bodies; gods; cosmos; generation; corruption; dogmatic natural philosophy","Methodology":"Skeptical review of rival natural-philosophical doctrines, aporia, equipollent argument, conceptual analysis, and challenges to causal explanation.","Structure":"Two books in the Adversus Mathematicos sequence, often numbered IX-X, directed against dogmatic physicists and natural philosophers."},"Arguments":["Physical and metaphysical theories conflict over basic principles, and their arguments do not compel assent from the skeptical inquirer."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"Pre-Socratic natural philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Academic skepticism, and Pyrrhonian anti-dogmatism.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Against the Physicists preserves Sextus\u0027s sustained skeptical engagement with ancient natural philosophy and metaphysics.","It remains useful for thinking about causation, theory choice, cosmology, metaphysical disagreement, and the limits of explanatory systems."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted as a direct grouped work page corresponding to the physical and metaphysical books of the corpus."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Sextus examines dogmatic physical and metaphysical doctrines about causes, bodies, motion, time, place, god, and the cosmos, arguing that rival accounts fail to secure assent."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Adversus Mathematicos IX-X; 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