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2 On the sorites
Laertius
Diogenes I GalenandCicero

1 Diogenes Laertius , Lives of the Philosophers 7.441

(A sorites is like this ): It is not the casethat two are few and three are not
also. It is not the casethat these are and four are not also (and so on up
to ten thousand ). But two are few : therefore ten thousand are also.

2 Galen , On Medical Experience 16.1- 17.32

According to what is demanded by the analogy, there must not be such
a thing in the world as a heap of grain , a mass or satiety, neither a mountain
nor strong love , nor a row , nor strong wind , nor city, nor anything
else which is known from its name and idea to have a measure of extent
or multitude , such as the wave , the open sea, a flock of sheep and herd
of cattle, the nation and the crowd . And the doubt and confusion introduced
by the analogy leads to contradiction of fact in the transition of
man from one stage of his life to another, and in the changesof time , and
the changes of seasons. For in the case of the boy one is uncertain and
doubtful as to when the actual moment arrives for his transition from
boyhood to adolescence, and in the caseof the youth when he enters the
period of manhood , also in the case of the man in his prime when he
begins to be an old man. And so it is with the seasonsof the year when
winter begins to change and merges into spring , and spring into
summer, and summer into autumn . By the same reasoning, doubt and
confusion enter into many other things which relate to the doings of
men in spite of the fact that knowledge of these things is obvious and
plain . There are some dogmatists and logicians who call the argument
" "
expressing this doubt sorites after the matter which first gave rise to
this question , I mean the heap. Other people call it the " little - by -little
"
argument . They have only named it thus in accordance with its

Galen and Cicero translations from A. A . Long and D. N . Sedley, The Hellenistic
(1987), pp . 222- 25. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. @ Cambridge
Philosophers
University Press. Galen translation based on R. Walzer, Galen, On Medical
(1944). Oxford: Oxford University Press. @The WellcomeTrust. Reprinted
Experience
by permission.
1. DiogenesLaertius, third century AD . The translation follows Barnes1982, p . 28.
2. Galen, later second century AD . Greek doctor and writer on medical subjects.
On MedicalExperience survives only in Arabic.
 On the sorites 59

method which leads to doubt and confusion . ... Wherefore I say: tell
me, do you think that a single grain of wheat is a heap? Thereupon you
say No . Then I say: what do you say about 2 grains ? For it is my purpose
to ask you questions in succession, and if you do not admit that 2 grains
are a heap then I shall ask you about 3 grains . Then I shall proceed to
interrogate you further with respect to 4 grains , then 5 and 6 and 7 and
8; and I think you will say that none of these makes a heap. Also 9 and
10 and 11 are not a heap. For the conception of a heap which is formed
in the soul and is conjured up in the imagination is that , besides being
single particles in juxtaposition , it has quantity and mass of some
considerable size. ... I for my part shall not cease from continuing to
add one to the number in like manner, nor desist from asking you without
ceasing if you admit that the quantity of each single one of these
numbers constitutes a heap. It is not possible for you to say with regard
to anyone of these numbers that it constitutes a heap. I shall proceed to
explain the cause of this . If you do not say with respect to any of the
numbers , as in the caseof the 100grains of wheat for example, that it now
constitutes a heap, but afterwards when a grain is added to it , you say
that a heap has now been formed , consequently this quantity of Corn
becomes a heap by the addition of the single grain of wheat , and if the
grain is taken away the heap is eliminated . And I know of nothing worse
and more absurd than that the being and not -being of a heap is determined
by a grain of Corn. And to prevent this absurdity from adhering
to you , you will not ceasefrom denying , and will never admit at any
time that the sum of this is a heap, even if the number of grains reaches
infinity by the constant and gradual addition of more. And by reason of
this denial the heap is proved to be non -existent, becauseof this pretty
sophism .

3. Cicero, 106- 43 BC. Roman orator, politician and philosopher. Wrote extensively
in Latin, presenting Hellenistic philosophy from the point of view of the New
Academy.
 60 DiogenesLaertius, Galenand Cicero

is it so just with a heap of corn , from which the name (sorites) is derived :
there is no matter whatever concerning which , if questioned by gradual
progression, we can tell how much must be added or subtracted before
we can give a definite answer- rich or poor, famous or unknown , many
or few, large or small , long or short , broad or narrow . " But sorites arguments
are fallacious ." Well demolish them then , if you can, to stop them
'
bothering
" Precautions you - for they will bother you if you don t take precautions .
"
have been taken , comes the answer. " For Chrysippus '
policy4 when being asked by gradual progression whether , say, 3 is few
or many, is to become quiescent (hesuchazein , as they term it ) some time
before reaching many." To which Carneades' reply is:5 " For all I care
you can snore, not just become quiescent. But what ' s the point ? In time
there' ll be someone to wake you up and question you in the same
fashion : ' If I add one to the number at which you fell silent , will it be
' "
many ? And so on you will go, as far as you think fit . Why say more?
'
For what you re admitting is that you cannot answer which is the last
of " few " or the first of " many" . Error of this kind spreads so easily that
I do not seewhere it might not reach. "That doesn' t harm me" , he
" for like says,
a skilled driver I shall restrain my horses before I reach the
edge, all the more so if what they' re heading towards is a precipice . In
like manner I restrain myself in advance and stop replying to sophistical
"
questions. If you have a clear answer but do not give it , that is arrogant
behaviour . If you do not have one, then you too do not know . If it is
because the matter is non -evident , I grant that . But in fact you say that
you do not proceed as far as the non -evident cases, and hence you are
stopping at caseswhich are clear-cut. If that is just a device for staying
silent , you achieve nothing , for why should your pursuer care whether
he traps you silent or speaking ? If , on the other hand , you reply " few "
up to, say, 9, without hesitation , but stop on 10, you are actually withholding
your assent from what is certain and clear-cut - the very move
which you deny me in non -evident cases. Hence this science of yours
gives you no help against sorites arguments : it does not teach what is
the lower or upper limit of increase or decrease.

4. Chrysippus , c. 280- 207 BC. Leading Stoic philosopher and third head of the
Stoic school . Cicero in On Fate says that Chrysippus " strains every nerve to
persuade
us that every proposition is either true or false " . It seems that the Stoic view
was that it is e.g . either true or false that a man is rich , but in borderline cases we do
not know which , and so should fall silent when asked to judge .
5. Cameades , c. 214- 129 BC. Fourth head of the New
Academy and its most
famous critic of the Stoics.
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