New Facebook Group

Mark Walker (New Mexico State University) has created the Facebook discussion group "Ancient and Modern Skepticism." It can be found here.

Polish Translation of Sextus

There is a new Polish translation of Sextus Empiricus's Pyrrhonian Outlines by Zbigniew Nerczuk (Nicolaus Copernicus University):

Sekstus Empiryk, Zarysy Pyrrońskie. Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK 2019.

You can find a note on the translation in English here.

Skepticism in Early Modern European Drama

Although it is open access, I haven't taken a look at this book yet, but it's topic seems intriguing: it explores the influence of ancient skepticism on early modern English, Spanish, and French drama:

Leonie Pawlita, Staging Doubt: Skepticism in Early Modern European Drama. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.

You can find more information and access the PDF file here.

Book Review of Les raisons du doute

The French journal Astérion has just published a book review, by Sylvia Giocanti, of Les raisons du doute: études sur le scepticisme antique (Classiques Garnier, 2019). It can be found here.

Issue 10.1 of IJSS

Issue 10.1 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism has just been published. It is devoted to a symposium on Keith DeRose's The Appearance of Ignorance: Knowledge, Skepticism, and Context, Volume 2 (OUP, 2017), with contributions by Peter Baumann, Michael Blome-Tillmann, Elke Brendel, Robin McKenna, and of course DeRose. It can be accessed here.

Special Issue on Skepticism

The latest issue of the Serbian journal Belgrade Philosophical Annual is devoted to skepticism. It contains contributions by Annalisa Coliva, Michael Blome-Tillmann, Tim Kraft, Peter Murphy, and Živan Lazović. It can be accessed for free here or here.

A Short Introduction to Skepticism

Last December, Oxford University Press published Duncan Pritchard's Scepticism: A Very Short Introduction. Complete info here.

Skepticism in the Babylonian Talmud

Next Tuesday (February 4th) at 18:00, at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg University), Reuven Kiperwasser will give the talk, “'Had It Not Been a Written Verse, It Would Have Been Impossible to Say It': Humour and Scepticism in Narratives in the Babylonian Talmud.” For more info, go here.

CFP: Varieties of Anti-Skepticism

There is a Call for Papers for the conference “The Varieties of Anti-skepticism, from Past to Present,” which will be take place at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain) on September 16-18, 2020. For complete information, go here. (Something I'll never understand is why on earth organizers of this sort of conference give only 20 minutes for exposition. Just reduce the number of speaking slots and give about 30-35 minutes.)

Hume's Skepticism

The literature on skepticism in Hume has considerably grown over the past few years. There's now a new book on this topic that was published at the very end of 2019:

Peter Fosl, Hume's Scepticism: Pyrrhonian and Academic. Edinburgh University Press.

More information can be found here.

Workshop on Spinoza's Anti-Skepticism

On January 14-15, the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg) will host the workshop “Spinoza's Anti-Sceptical System and Its Aftermath.” For complete information, click here.

Debunking Arguments

The latest issue of Philosophy Compass (vol. 24, issue 12, Dec. 2019) contains Dan Korman's “Debunking Arguments.” Click here to find it. I read before it was published and I think it provides a good overview of the subject.

Call for Applications at MCAS

There are two calls for applications at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg University)., which is an ideal place to do research on skepticism.

(1) 4 Junior and 2-3 Senior Fellowships for 2020/21. Deadline: January 15, 2020. For information, click here.

(2) Research Associate Position, commencing on April 1, 2020 (for 3.5 years). Deadline: 3, 2020. For information, click here.

The Ten Oxherding Pictures

A regular reader of this blog, Pete White (Cornell), sent me a message I'd like to share because it addresses an issue I was unaware of:

“In a recent paper “Does Pyrrhonism Have Practical or Epistemic Value?,” you describe a scholar for whom the reading of Sextus's writings prompts a blissful experience similar to that from reading certain Buddhist texts. I have had that experience but it is not with a written text. Perhaps you are familiar with The Ten Oxherding Pictures from the Buddhist tradition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls. I first saw them over 50 years ago and was moved in a way I could not put into words. Pyrrhonism later provided those words. The first 2 pictures “In Search of the Ox” and “Discovery of the Footprints” correspond to noticing the anomalies. Pictures 3 and 4 “Perceiving the Ox” and “Catching the Ox” correspond to the search. “Taming the Ox” and “Riding the Ox Home” are isosthenia. “The Ox Transcended” and “Both the Ox and Self Transcended” are epoche. “Reaching the Source” and “Return to Society” map to ataraxia. The connections between Buddhism and Pyrrhonism have been extensively discussed, but The Ten Oxherding Pictures have been left out of the discussion. Apart from the 'bliss' this overlap provides, this correlation is of practical import. As you and others have discussed many times, critics from ancient times through David Hume to the present day have said Pyrrhonism is not really liveable. Buddhism is followed by millions and I am not aware that critics say Buddhism is unlivable. Since Pyrrhonism maps to Buddhism as presented in those Oxherding Pictures and Buddhism is livable, Pyrrhonism is just as liveable.”