Ataraxia in pyrrhonism

The paper aims to explicate the notion “ataraxia” in light of its untenable, as I argue, interpretation by M. Gabriel. This philosopher presupposes ataraxia as a total quietism and draws a conclusion, undesirable for Sextus, that the skeptical program of attaining the happiness, which is defined by Sextus as soul tranquility, is inconsistent since the sceptic can never be happy in virtue of incompatibility of inactivity with the skeptical investigation. The first part of the paper conveys the role of ataraxia in Sextus' Pyrrhonism as it is interpreted by Gabriel. In the second part, we come to define ataraxia not as a total quietism (as in Gabriel), but as a suspension of all judgments and a freedom of all distress.