Source edition
Galen. Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, Volume 1. Kühn, Karl Gottlob, editor. Leipzig: Knobloch, 1821.
Source data
A Digital Corpus for Graeco-Arabic Studies · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a philosophical and pedagogical treatise in which Galen vigorously criticizes the skeptical stance of the Academic school regarding the best method of teaching and the criterion of truth. Galen begins by challenging the view of Favorinus, who argued that examining opposing arguments is the finest method of instruction, and exposes the self-contradictions inherent in the Academics' insistence on the "suspension of judgment" and the impossibility of comprehension. He compares their refusal to provide criteria for truth while demanding judgments to a carpenter who orders a job without supplying the necessary tools. In contrast, Galen asserts the existence of natural criteria of perception, arguing that technical and logical standards built upon these natural roots are essential for genuine education. Ultimately, the treatise rejects extreme skepticism as mere sophistry and defends a Platonic approach to learning and instruction.