While, however, some of the pages of Sextus' works would form a
possible introduction to certain lines of modern philosophical
thought, we cannot carry the analogy farther, for Pyrrhonism as
a whole lacked the essential element of all philosophical
progress, which is a belief in the possibility of finding and
establishing the truth in the subjects investigated.

Before beginning a critical study of the writings of Sextus
Empiricus, and the light which they throw on the development of
Greek Scepticism, it is necessary to make ourselves somewhat
familiar with the environment in which he lived and wrote. We
shall thus be able to comprehend more fully the standpoint from
which he regarded philosophical questions.

Let us accordingly attempt to give some details of his life,
including his profession, the time when he lived, the place of
his birth, the country in which he taught, and the general aim
and character of his works. Here, however, we encounter great
difficulties, for although we possess most of the writings of
Sextus well preserved, the evidence which they provide on the
points mentioned is very slight. He does not give us
biographical details in regard to himself, nor does he refer to
his contemporaries in a way to afford any exact knowledge of
them. His name even furnishes us with a problem impossible of
solution. He is called [Greek: Sextos ho empeirikos] by Diogenes
Laertius[1]: [Greek: Hêrodotou de diêkouse Sextos ho empeirikos
hou kai ta deka tôn skeptikôn kai alla kallista' Sextou de
diêkouse Satorninos ho Kythênas, empeirikos kai autos]. Although
in this passage Diogenes speaks of Sextus the second time
without the surname, we cannot understand the meaning otherwise