Tad Brennan on Pyrrhonism: A Reply
If an interpretation leads to absurdities, it’s probably a faulty interpretation.
This article will cover an interpretation of the works of the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus presented in a lengthy June 1, 2025, interview by Jonathan Bi with Cornell University philosopher Tad Brennan, who, early in the interview, says,
Lots of folks nowadays do want to turn to ancient philosophy and Stoicism in particular to provide them with a different way to live. I think this is deeply misguided myself and I'm among the historians that you mentioned who don't follow the people that I study.
Brennan is thus at odds with those of us who are turning to Stoicism, Pyrrhonism, Epicureanism, and other ancient Greek philosophies for guidance on how to live.
These projects are not without their difficulties. Imagine that riding a bicycle was a lost art from antiquity, much like the case with Roman concrete. All we have are some ancient texts that describe the activity using technical jargon. In modern times, experts in these ancient texts have developed various ideas about what these ancient bicycle riders were doing. Some of them conclude that whatever it was, it was impossible because they’d obviously fall over. Others say it is possible. As expected, their interpretations differ.
This is what I experience as a modern-day practitioner of Pyrrhonism when I read some of the interpretations of Pyrrhonism put forth by some professional philosophers - ones who are not Pyrrhonists - such as Tad Brennan. (To be fair, there are a few philosophers who are Pyrrhonists, and they give much more useful interpretations. Unfortunately, they are greatly outnumbered by the non-Pyrrhonists.)
This problem is not unique to Pyrrhonism. Modern practitioners of Stoicism encounter it too, from sources such as Martha Nussbaum and Mary Beard. Most people interested in Stoicism won’t encounter these interpretations unless they go looking for them because there is vastly more content available from Stoics describing how they practice Stoicism than there is this kind of content from academic non-Stoics saying what they’re doing can’t be done. Alas, this is not the case for Pyrrhonism.
Brennan is in the camp that says that riding bicycles is impossible, and I’m in the camp that says it is possible. To that end, this article critiques several of the claims Brennan makes about Pyrrhonism in the interview. These are pretty common claims, so it’s worth taking a look at them.
The main subjects of this essay are: