Caveat
The Σκέψις database was launched on the 8th October, 2014, and is currently under development. The current layout is therefore temporary.
Description of the editorial project
In regard to ancient times, scepticism presents a double phenomenon: a philosophical problem, the problem of the possibility of knowledge, but also a collection of philosophical traditions, the Pyrrhonian tradition and the academic tradition. The Σκέψις database employs XML/TEI encoding that brings together a range of texts on the sceptical phenomenon in ancient times and allows users the opportunity to access and study them.
There are three possible ways to access the texts:
- by book collection (called VOLUMINA), where the reader can access texts in their original language and their (unpublished) translation in the editorial structure of the reference editions. This will allow users access to, for example, Sextus Empiricus’ Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Cicero’s Academica, etc.
- by ancient sceptic philosopher (called SCEPTICI), where the reader can access texts (works, fragments and testimonies) attributed to the philosopher in question. The reader will thus be able to access, for example, the ensemble of eyewitness accounts on Pyrrho, Aenesidemus’ and Carneades’ fragments, etc.
- by keywords relating to scepticism (called NOTIONES). The reader will thus be able to access a range of texts relating to sceptic problematics such as epoché, isosthenia, etc.
Parallel to these ways of accessing the texts, a bibliographic database will be offered, with entries for each philosopher accompanied by a biography.
Description of the technical project
Encoding of texts will follow the TEI guidelines, and more specifically those of EPIDOC. Conforming to the principles of digital philology, the texts – often fragmentary and constructed from citations – will be edited in a way to correctly cite resources by following the recommendations of CITE Architecture, and Canonical Text Services. The operation and dissemination of the corpus will be based on an XML native (BaseX) database and will benefit from the expertise of the Atelier des Humanités Numériques of the ENS de Lyon, using the application SynopsX.