Pyrrhonian Scepticism in Thomas Elyot's Defence of Good Women (1540)

Abstract

This article discusses the first known mention of Pyrrhonian Scepticism in the English language, which occurs in Thomas Elyot’s 1540 Defence of Good Women. The article inquires into the sources of Elyot’s knowledge of Pyrrhonism and into his motivations for mentioning Pyrrhonists in a text on the social and political status of women. I conclude that, on the balance of evidence, the most likely source of Elyot’s ideas on Pyrrhonism is Galen’s De Temperamentis. Furthermore, I argue that the rejection of a straw man version of Pyrrhonism serves as a tool of authorial positioning for Elyot, and in particular as a means of reassuring his reader that the Defence is not intended ironically. Elyot chooses Pyrrhonism as a philosophical position representing bad faith arguments, and he likely does so because of the hostile treatment of Pyrrhonism in Galen’s works, and especially in De Temperamentis.