Atomismo e pirronismo. L’identità filosofica di Ascanio di Abdera (Diog. Laert. IX 61)

In all likelihood, Ascanius of Abdera was a philosopher who had a deep interest in Pyrrhonian thought. The only textual evidence about him is in Diogenes Laertius’ Life of Pyrrho (IX 61), in which one reads that, according to Ascanius, Pyrrho was the first to introduce akatalepsia (incomprehensibility/non-cognition) and epoche (suspended judgment). In this article, it is hypothesized that Ascanius is either a Pyrrhonian or a Democritean philosopher. There are good reasons in favor of either possibility. Although one necessarily keeps to the hypothetical level, it would seem more plausible that Ascanius was a Democritean thinker who, like other thinkers belonging to the Democritean tradition (for instance, Nausiphanes of Teos), had a strong interest in Pyrrhonian philosophy, probably in polemics with Arcesilaus’ Academy. Finally, the article also deals with the section of Plutarch’s Adversus Colotem devoted to Arcesilaus (1121F-1122A) and a column of the Epicurean Polystratus’ De contemptu (PHerc. 336/1150, XXI 17-29 Indelli).