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A. Concept and general characteristics The term  scepticus is the neo-Latin form of a term that originated with Diogenes Laertius (9,69) for followers of the Greek philosopher Pyrrhon of Elis ( c. 300 BC), to whom a specific form of sceptical philosophy was already attributed in Antiquity. Latinizations of other Greek terms for proponents of this philosophy also remained even longer in use (e.g. aporeticus, zeteticus, epheticus) [29.105].The early modern use of the term S. (usually not including exponents of the Academic S. pursued at the Platonic Academy fro…

A. Concept and general characteristics The term E. denotes positions aligned with the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. A distinction must, however, be made between the frequently pejorative use of the term to label ideas athestic, hedonistic and materialistic, and the various forms of reception of the actual teachings of Epicurus in epistemology, natural philosophy and ethics. The  Lexikon philosophicum of Johannes Micraelius (1653) identifies the characteristic doctrines of E. as (1) the definition of 'pleasure' ( hēdonḗ or térpsis) as the supreme good, prov…

A. Introduction A.1. General characteristicsDespite much criticism, A. remained the dominant philosophy of the Latin world during the Renaissance. Its influence was not hampered by the alternative of Platonism that was popular from the 15th cent. [35]; [37], after having been introduced into the Latin west by Greek scholars, such as George Gemistos Plethon and Basilios Bessarion, and gained influence as a philosophical movement at Florence through the work of Marsilio Ficino. Aristotle remained "the master of those who know" ( il maestro di color che sanno; Dante, Inf. 4,…