Sextus Empiricus is talking about what a Skeptic is like.
Καὶ ὁ Πυρρώνειος δὲ φιλόσοφος δυνάμει τῇ τῆς σκεπτικῆς ἀγωγῆς ἐννοίᾳ συναποδέδοται· ἔστι γὰρ ὁ μετέχων ταύτης τῆς δυνάμεως
Is this an instance of the relatively uncommon noun - article - modifier position? I have trouble understanding this.
I think it’s rather common: article - (gen.article-modifier-gen.noun) - noun.
ὁ Πυρρώνειος φιλόσοφος δυνάμει συναποδέδοται τῇ τῆς σκεπτικῆς ἀγωγῆς ἐννοίᾳ.
σκεπτική is a modifier of a definite ἀγωγή.
Whatever the sentence means, however, that’s beyond me.
Nooj, (and other posters),
First, it’s good to point out that the Greek quoted by Nooj is from Outlines of Skepticism I.v.
Second, consider the translation from a translation that was edited by Jonathan Barnes and Julia Annas: “The Pyrrhonian philosopher has been implicitly defined in our account of the concept of the Sceptical persuasion: a Pyrrhonian is someone who posses this ability.” [Two tangents on vocabulary: (1) ἀγωγή, in Greek Skepticism, means ‘persuasion’ - although, interestingly, it doesn’t mean this anywhere outside Skepticism. (2) ἔννοια - here in the dative - gets an adverbial sense ‘implicitly’; Liddell & Scott does not have any entry that could match this sense - perhaps (A, 3) ‘intention’ of a testator, but that seems restricted to Greek law; perhaps (A, 2) works ‘vague, notion’; so, perhaps, we should take ἐννοίᾳ as ‘implicitly’ only for Sextus Empiricus? No where else in Outlines does Sextus use the dative in this way ← compare III.vii.46 Οὕτω μὲν οὖν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐννοίᾳ τοῦ σώματος, ἀκατάληπτόν ἐστιν, εἰ ἔστι τι σῶμα·>]
Third, which item in the quoted Greek are you asking about?
Thanks for the citation on the quote. I recommend the book in original or in translation. It’s an interesting philosophy.
(2) ἔννοια - here in the dative - gets an adverbial sense ‘implicitly’; Liddell & Scott does not have any entry that could match this sense - perhaps (A, 3) ‘intention’ of a testator, but that seems restricted to Greek law; perhaps (A, 2) works ‘vague, notion’; so, perhaps, we should take ἐννοίᾳ as ‘implicitly’ only for Sextus Empiricus? No where else in Outlines does Sextus use the dative in this way ← compare III.vii.46 Οὕτω μὲν οὖν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐννοίᾳ τοῦ σώματος, ἀκατάληπτόν ἐστιν, εἰ ἔστι τι σῶμα·>]
After a couple of days of thought, I think ἐννοίᾳ goes with τῇ, and perhaps δυνάμει then is a dative of respect or location. So:
The Pyrrhonian philosopher has been defined by our conception (ἐννοίᾳ) of the Skeptical way, with reference to his ability.
I think implicitly has been put in there by the translators to make the sentence clearer in meaning.
Third, which item in the quoted Greek are you asking about?
I was confused about how δυνάμει fits in there, I thought maybe it went with τῇ ἐννοίᾳ somehow.