{
    "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1",
    "id": "sextus_empiricus.against_ethicists",
    "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/sextus-empiricus/against-ethicists/livre-11/passage-221/",
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Against the Ethicists, Book XI of Against the Learned",
    "author": "Sextus Empiricus",
    "date": "c. 180-220 CE",
    "summary": "In Book XI, Sextus confronts doctrines of good, evil, and the art of living with disagreements among peoples and philosophers. Suspension removes the claimed self-evidence of natural values that conflict prevents from being established.",
    "learning": "Compare definitions of goodness, distinguish customary conduct from natural judgement, and understand why suspension is not practical indifference.",
    "long_summary": "The text surveys definitions of bodily, external, and moral goods, then shows how the same thing is sought, avoided, or judged indifferent by different schools. It also asks whether an art teaching conduct can possess a secure object, method, and expert.\n\nCriticism does not force the sceptic into inaction. The sceptic follows affections and customs without adding that they are naturally good or bad. The promised tranquillity depends on this change in assent, whose moral force differs from asserted theoretical relativism.",
    "historical_context": "The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.",
    "material_world_label": "Roman world, 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE",
    "material_world": {
        "technology": "Paved roads, aqueducts, concrete, glassware, mills, and hypocaust heating equip some cities, but energy comes mainly from bodies, animals, water, and wood.",
        "science": "Astronomy, geometry, natural history, and engineering compile Greek, Egyptian, and Roman knowledge. Measurement exists without a modern laboratory.",
        "medicine": "Physicians, midwives, baths, plants, and rudimentary surgery can help; reliable anaesthesia, antisepsis, and antibiotics do not exist.",
        "transport": "On foot, horseback, cart, or ship, road and sea networks connect the Empire. Travel remains slow, costly, and risky.",
        "agriculture": "Grain, vines, olives, pulses, and livestock supply cities and armies; estates, slavery, and tenancy organize part of the labour.",
        "communication": "Imperial couriers, letters on papyrus or tablets, inscriptions, and oral proclamations spread information. Everything is copied by hand.",
        "clothing": "Tunics and cloaks are common to both sexes; the stola, toga, footwear, colours, and jewellery mark citizenship, office, wealth, and origin."
    },
    "material_world_scenes": [
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-01.webp",
            "title": "Technology, science, and care",
            "description": "Paved roads, aqueducts, concrete, glassware, mills, and hypocaust heating equip some cities, but energy comes mainly from bodies, animals, water, and wood. Astronomy, geometry, natural history, and engineering compile Greek, Egyptian, and Roman knowledge. Measurement exists without a modern laboratory. Physicians, midwives, baths, plants, and rudimentary surgery can help; reliable anaesthesia, antisepsis, and antibiotics do not exist."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-02.webp",
            "title": "Travel and communication",
            "description": "On foot, horseback, cart, or ship, road and sea networks connect the Empire. Travel remains slow, costly, and risky. Imperial couriers, letters on papyrus or tablets, inscriptions, and oral proclamations spread information. Everything is copied by hand."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-03.webp",
            "title": "Farming and food",
            "description": "Grain, vines, olives, pulses, and livestock supply cities and armies; estates, slavery, and tenancy organize part of the labour."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-04.webp",
            "title": "Clothing, women and men",
            "description": "Tunics and cloaks are common to both sexes; the stola, toga, footwear, colours, and jewellery mark citizenship, office, wealth, and origin."
        }
    ],
    "intellectual_tradition": {
        "id": "skepticism",
        "label": "Skepticism"
    },
    "period": {
        "id": "ancient",
        "label": "Antiquity"
    },
    "languages": [
        "grc",
        "en",
        "fr"
    ],
    "manifestations": [
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            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/sextus_empiricus/against_ethicists/representations/grc.ndjson",
            "language": "grc",
            "records": 257,
            "role": "original",
            "sha256": "0cbbb82dd66d0029de5d5c56b160a083811c0363f54322fdd9d4bcbcdbfcb317",
            "source_id": "adversus-grc"
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            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/sextus_empiricus/against_ethicists/representations/ai-generated/en-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "en",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 257,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "0626e1628145e62edfcd56b90fb3f709d82a6e6484a60689beedd545775c5eb4",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
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            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/sextus_empiricus/against_ethicists/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
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            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
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    ],
    "concepts": [
        {
            "id": "equipollence",
            "label": "Equipollence"
        },
        {
            "id": "suspension_of_judgment",
            "label": "Suspension of judgment"
        },
        {
            "id": "virtue",
            "label": "Virtue"
        }
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    "source_work_ids": [
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    "passages": 257,
    "word_count": 16268,
    "word_counts_by_language": {
        "en": 16268,
        "fr": 17125,
        "grc": 13920
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    "editorial_status": "gpt_5_6_semantic_draft_v1",
    "structure": {
        "citation_scheme": "sextus-book-section-v1",
        "kind": "native",
        "levels": [
            {
                "key": "book",
                "label_fr": "Livre",
                "label_en": "Book"
            },
            {
                "key": "section",
                "label_fr": "Section",
                "label_en": "Section"
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        ],
        "leaf_fr": "Section",
        "leaf_en": "Section"
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    "canonical_passage_id": "passage:sextus_empiricus.against_ethicists:11.221",
    "canonical_ref": "11.221",
    "canonical_parent_ref": null,
    "canonical_parent_id": null,
    "representations": [
        {
            "language": "grc",
            "text": "πρὸς τούτοις· εἰ τὸ μὴ ὂν διδάσκεται, οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς διδάσκεται· τῶν γὰρ ὄντων καὶ ὑπαρχόντων ἐστὶ τἀληθές. εἰ δὲ μηδὲν ἀληθὲς διδάσκεται, πᾶν τὸ διδασκόμενόν ἐστι ψεῦδος. ἄτοπον δέ γε πᾶν τὸ διδασκόμενον εἶναι ψεῦδος· οὐ τοίνυν τὸ μὴ ὂν διδάσκεται. ἔπειτα, εἴπερ τὸ μὴ ὂν διδάσκεται, ἤτοι καθὸ μὴ ὄν ἐστι διδάσκεται, ἢ κατ’ ἄλλο τι. καθὸ μὲν οὖν μὴ ὄν ἐστιν, οὐ διδάσκεται· εἰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ ὂν καθὸ μὴ ὄν ἐστι διδάσκεται, οὐδὲν ὂν διδαχθήσεται· ὅπερ ἄτοπον. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ κατ’ ἄλλο τι· τὸ γὰρ ἄλλο τι ἔστι, τὸ δὲ μὴ ὂν οὐκ ἔστιν.",
            "translator": "Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors",
            "edition": "adversus-grc",
            "source_id": "adversus-grc",
            "translation_type": "original"
        },
        {
            "language": "en",
            "text": "In addition, if what does not exist is taught, nothing true is taught, for truth belongs among things that are and exist. But if nothing true is taught, everything taught is false. Yet it is absurd that everything taught should be false. Therefore what does not exist is not taught. Next, if what does not exist is taught, it is taught either insofar as it does not exist or in some other respect. It is not taught insofar as it does not exist, for if what does not exist is taught insofar as it does not exist, nothing that exists will be taught, which is absurd. Nor is it taught in some other respect, for that other respect exists, whereas what does not exist does not.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
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            "official_status": "non_official",
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        },
        {
            "language": "fr",
            "text": "En outre, si le non-être est enseigné, rien de vrai n’est enseigné, car le vrai appartient aux êtres et aux choses existantes. Mais si rien de vrai n’est enseigné, tout ce qui est enseigné est faux. Or il est absurde que tout ce qui est enseigné soit faux. Ce n’est donc pas le non-être qui est enseigné. Ensuite, si le non-être est enseigné, il l’est soit en tant que non-être, soit sous un autre rapport. Il n’est pas enseigné en tant que non-être; car si le non-être est enseigné en tant que non-être, aucun être ne sera enseigné, ce qui est absurde. Il ne l’est pas non plus sous un autre rapport; car cet autre rapport existe, tandis que le non-être n’existe pas.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
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}