Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.47 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.47
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Irrefutability is strength in argument so as not to be brought over by it to the opposite side. Earnestness (or absence of frivolity) is a habit of referring presentations to right reason. Knowledge itself they define either as unerring apprehension or as a habit or state which in reception of presentations cannot be shaken by argument. Without the study of dialectic, they say, the wise man cannot guard himself in argument so as never to fall; for it enables him to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and to discriminate what is merely plausible and what is ambiguously expressed, and without it he cannot methodically put questions and give answers.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.47 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.47
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesMore qualities of a trained mind: not being argued out of the truth, taking impressions seriously enough to check them against right reason, and having knowledge that cannot be shaken. Without training in reasoning, a person cannot reliably tell truth from falsehood or the plausible from the ambiguous.
Older wording
- “Irrefutability”
- — strength in argument so you cannot be talked out of the truth
- “Earnestness”
- — seriousness, not being frivolous
- “apprehension”
- — a firm grasp of something
Themes and situations
- Judgements and impressions
- Learning and progress
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