Suspending Judgment

In this last post of the year, I would like to let you know about this early-view paper by Jane Friedman forthcoming in Noûs: “Why Suspending Judgment.” Interestingly, she defends a view remarkably similar to Sextus's. It can be found here.

Moore's Proof

The latest issue of the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy features Kevin Morris and Consuelo Preti's paper “How to Read Moore’s ‘Proof of an External World’.” It can be accessed for free here.

Skepticism about Skepticism

The latest issue of Philosophy contains Nick Zangwill's "Scepticism about Scepticism," which you can find here. I haven't read it yet, but needless to say I regard any attack on skepticism as sacrilegious.

Pyrrhonian Relativism

In case you’re interested, my paper “Pyrrhonian Relativism” has just been published in Elenchos 36 (2015): 89-114. It can be found here -- if you don't have access and would like to have a copy, contact me. And here’s the abstract:

This paper argues that Sextus Empiricus’s Pyrrhonism is a form of relativism markedly different from the positions typically referred to by this term. The scholars who have explored the relativistic elements found in Sextus’s texts have claimed that his outlook is not actually a form of relativism, or that those elements are inconsistent with his account of Pyrrhonism, or that he is confusing skepticism with relativism. The reason for these views is twofold: first, when employing the term “relativism” one hardly has in mind the sort of relativistic stance adopted by the Pyrrhonist; and second, those scholars have misinterpreted Sextus’s relativistic remarks. The purpose of this paper is to show that he adopts a phenomenological kind of relativism that is compatible with his account of Pyrrhonism.

Issue 5.4 of IJSS

Issue 5.4 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now out. You can find it here.

Dossier on Pyrrhonism

The latest volume of the French journal Philosophie Antique (15, 2015) includes a dossier devoted to Pyrrhonian skepticism (in addition to several papers on other topics).

Carlos Lévy

"Philon d’Alexandrie est-il inutilisable pour connaître Énésidème ? Étude méthodologique."

Richard Bett

"Why Care Whether Scepticism is Different from Other Philosophies?"

Baptiste Bondu

"Le problème du critère sceptique."

Stéphane Marchand

"Sextus Empiricus, scepticisme et philosophie de la vie quotidienne."

Lorenzo Corti

"Scepticism, Number and Appearances : The ἀριθμητικὴ τέχνη and Sextus Empiricus’ targets in M I-VI."

Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies

In previous posts, I referred to the recently founded Maimonides Centre for Advances Studies at the University of Hamburg, whose central aim is the study of Jewish skepticism. The center has now a website.

French Translation of Against the Ethicists

I've just found out about what I think is the first French translation of Sextus Empiricus's Against the Ethicists:

Sextus Empiricus, Contre les moralistes (Adv. Math. XI). Traduit, présenté et annoté par Olivier D'Jeranian. Manucius: 2015.

I cannot recommend this translation because I haven't seen it yet and I don't know the translator, but you can find more information here.

For and Against Skepticism

A couple of months ago, the French publishing house Honoré Champion published Pour et contre le scepticisme: Théories et Pratiques de l’Antiquité aux Lumières, edited by Élodie Argaud, Nawalle El Yadari, Sébastien Charles, and Gianni Paganini. For more information, click here.

Defending Skepticism

My paper "Conciliationism and the Menace of Scepticism" has just been published in Dialogue 54 (2015): 469-488. It can be found here.

Two New Papers on Sextus

Two new papers on Sextus by Emidio Spinelli has just been published:

- "Sesto Empirico: iceberg scettico della nozione di epoché", Archivio di Filosofia 83 (2015): 193-207. (It can be found here.)

- "Sesto Empirico: contro il corpo, contro l’anima. L’uomo non può essere criterio," Syzetesis - Rivista online 2 NS (2015): 7-14. (It can be accessed for free here.)

Conference on Modern Philosophy in Rome

On October 7 & 8, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei will host the conference "La curiosità e le passioni della conoscenza: filosofia e scienze da Montaigne a Hobbes". The program can be found here.

New Volume of Sképsis

Volume 12 of the Brazilian journal Sképsis is now out. You can access the papers for free here.

CFP Special Issue on Vuillemin on Ancient Skepticism

Following a one-day workshop devoted to the approach of the French philosopher Jules Vuillemin to ancient scepticism, which took place at the Archives Henri Poincaré at Nancy (France) on December the 6th 2014, the journal Philosophia Scientiae organises a special issue devoted to this theme, edited by Lorenzo Corti and Joseph Vidal-Rosset. On this occasion, we encourage submissions on Jules Vuillemin’s discussion of ancient scepticism.

Vuillemin deals with ancient scepticism in several loci of his work. In his Nécessité ou contingence?, having reconstructed the Dominator argument and three ancient reactions to it attested by Epictetus, he analyzes some ancient positions that defended contingency by dropping one of the implicit premises of the argument. One of these positions is that of Carneades, as attested in Cicero’s De Fato (Nécessité et Contingence?, 231-51). At the end of the same book, Vuillemin characterizes a few philosophical systems by the way in which they react to the Dominator argument. These include scepticism – i.e. the scepticism of Carneades, somehow understood as an ʻancient Humeʼ (Nécessité et Contingence?, 400-6). In his article ʻUne morale est-elle compatible avec le scepticisme ?ʼ (Philosophie 7 (1985), 21-51), Vuillemin asks the question mentioned in the title as far as four varieties of scepticism are concerned. In his « La justice par convention; signification philosophique de la doctrine de Rawls » (Dialectica 41, n°1-2 (1987), pp. 155-166), Vuillemin assimilates Rawls’ approach to justice to that of an Academic sceptic. This thematic issue of Philosophia Scientiae aims at inquiring into the multiple facets of the attitude of an atypical contemporary philosopher to ancient scepticism.

The submitted manuscripts will be published subject to peer-review. All papers have to be prepared for peer-review blind refereeing. Manuscripts should be submitted in French, English, or German, and prepared for anonymous peer review. Abstracts in French and English of 200-300 words in length should be included. Articles should not exceed 50,000 characters (spaces and footnotes included).

Please send submissions to:

Lorenzo Corti <lorenzo.corti@univ-lorraine.fr>

Joseph Vidal-Rosset <joseph.vidal-rosset@univ-lorraine.fr>

Bayle's Oeuvre Online

The complete works of the French skeptic Pierre Bayle have been made available online by the French publisher Classiques Garnier. You can find them here.

EDIT: it seems that the link here does not give access unless your institution is subscribed. I was sent an email with the link by Garnier and I can still have access when I click on the link in the email, but clearly the "path" to the site must be different.

Early View IJSS

A few more early-view pieces to appear in the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism have just been published online here.

Verbatim Copy

In order to dispel any potential misunderstanding, there is a new book series devoted to Plato whose submission guidelines are a verbatim copy of the submission guidelines of Brill Studies in Skepticism. I say this so that no one thinks that it's the other way around. Anyway, I would have expected a little more effort from its editor.

Externalism, Self-Knowledge, and Skepticism

Cambridge University Press has just published Externalism, Self-Knowledge, and Skepticism: New Essays, edited by Sandy Goldberg. Complete information about the volume can be found here.

Issue 5.3 of IJSS

Issue 5.3 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now out. It can be accessed here.

Cross-Cultural Gettier

The multi-authored article "Gettier Across Cultures", just published "early view" in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, has called my attention. Here's its abstract: "In this article, we present evidence that in four different cultural groups that speak quite different languages (Brazil, India, Japan, and the USA) there are cases of justified true beliefs that are not judged to be cases of knowledge. We hypothesize that this intuitive judgment, which we call “the Gettier intuition,” may be a reflection of an underlying innate and universal core folk epistemology, and we highlight the philosophical significance of its universality."

Sextus against Ancient Physics

The volume Sextus Empiricus and Ancient Physics (CUP) is finally out. It contains the papers presented at the Eleventh Symposium Hellenisticum, which took place in 2007.

Pyrrhonism and Buddhism

Princeton University Press has just released Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia, by Christopher Beckwith. I don't know the author, but he's clearly not a specialist in Pyrrhonism, so I wonder to what extent his comparisons are well supported. The problem with (most of the) papers and books comparing Pyrrhonism and Buddhism is that their authors are, as one would expect, specialists in only one of these subjects.

Carneades's Skepticism

Renata Zieminska's paper, "Carneades’ Approval as a Weak Assertion: A Non-Dialectical Interpretation of Academic Skepticism," has now been published online in The European Legacy. It can be found here.

Suspension, Equipollence, and Inquiry

My paper "Suspension, Equipollence, and Inquiry: A Reply to Wieland" has just been published in Analytic Philosophy. It can be found here. If you want the PDF of the published version, let me know.

Fellowships on Jewish Skepticism

There is a call for applications for Four Junior Fellowships at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies – Jewish Scepticism, at the University of Hamburg. Two fellowships are for PhD candidates and two for Post-Docs, in each case for a period of six months, either during the fall or spring semester 2015-16. The application deadline for the fall 2015 semester fellowship is June 30, 2015. The application deadline for the spring 2016 semester fellowship is December 31, 2015. For more information, contact Bill Rebiger at bill.rebiger@uni-hamburg.de.

Conference on Wittgenstein and Skepticism

The Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP will hold its X Colóquio Nacional/VII Colóquio Internacional Wittgenstein, “Wittgenstein-Knowledge and Scepticism,” on October 14-16, 2015. The organizers accept contributions in Portuguese, English, or French. To submit your paper, send an abstract of 200-500 words to coloquiowittgenstein@gmail.com and fill out the on-line enrollment form here. Make sure to include the following additional information: name of the author(s), title of the paper, institutional affiliation and status (masters or doctoral student, lecturer/researcher). For complete information about the conference, go here.

Workshop on Defeaters

On June 12th, from 9:30 to 17:45, the University of Cologne will host the workshop "Defeaters, Higher-Order Evidence, and the Limits of Defeat." You can find the program here. Participation is free. For registration and further information, contact Thomas Grundmann at grundmann-sekretariat @ uni-koeln.de.

Sextus and the Problem of the Criterion

Issue 214 (January/April 2015) of the Bollettino della Società Filosofica Italiana includes Massimo Catapano's article, "Sesto Empirico, Roderick Chisholm e il problema del criterio."

Infinity and Infinite Regress Arguments

The Department of Classics at Durham University is organizing the workshop "Infinity and Infinite Regress Arguments in Ancient Philosophy," which will take place on July 13th-14th, 2015. The organizers welcome abstracts of up to 500 words for presentations up to 30 minutes on the topics of infinity and infinite regress arguments, primarily, but not exclusively, in ancient philosophy. They are interested in pieces on specific texts, arguments or thinkers, as well as synoptic pieces looking at a range of material. Please send abstracts (prepared for blind review) or questions to: Matthew Ducombe (mbduncombe@gmail.com) by May 22th.

Issue 5.2 of IJSS

Issue 5.2 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now available online. It is a special issue on Ancient Skepticism, Voluntarism, and Science, edited by Anjan Chakravartty. Contributors include Richard Bett, Otávio Bueno, A. Chakravarty, Casey Perin, and Michael Williams. The papers can be found here.

Evolutionary Debunking Arguments

Particularly in the past few years, there has been an intense debate about the evolutionary debunking of moral realism. The latest issue of Analysis includes a new contribution to this debate: Andreas Mogensen's "Evolutionary Debunking Arguments and the Proximate/Ultimate Distinction," which can be found here.

Sextus and Politics

The latest issue of the Italian journal Elenchos (35/2, 2014) contains Stéphane Marchand's "Sextus Empiricus: les effets politiques de la suspension du jugement." It will soon be available on this site; in the meantime here is the abstract: "The aim of this paper is to examine the political implications of Sextus Empiricus’ neo-Pyrrhonism by considering two fundamental texts (PH I 23-24; AM XI 162-165). Both texts are usually interpreted as endorsing political conformism insofar as Sextus allegedly claims that one should follow the laws and customs of one's community. But it seems possible to interpret the reference to laws and customs merely as a description of what humans in fact do. What Sextus would therefore recommend is to abandon any theoretical approach to politics in favor of a pragmatic one."

Sextus and Ataraxia

Those interested in Sextus Empiricus's Pyrrhonism might want to read this new paper by Svavar Svavarsson: "The Skeptic's Luck: On Fortuitous Tranquillity." In E. K. Emilsson, A. Maravela, and M. Skoie (eds.), Paradeigmata: Studies in Honour of Øivind Andersen, 177-186. Athens: Norwegian Institute at Athens, 2014.

IJSS in Philosopher's Index

The International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now indexed in the Philosopher's Index. It could already be found on PhilPapers and SCOPUS.

Etiology, Debunking, and Religious Epistemology

On March 16-17, the New Insights and Directions for Religious Epistemology project at Oxford University will host the workshop, "Etiology, Debunking, and Religious Epistemology," focusing on the etiology of belief and debunking arguments and their relevance to questions in the philosophy of religion or analytic theology. To register, please send an email to insights@philosophy.ox.ac.uk. Further information can be found here.

Skepticism and Political Thought

I've just come across this book edited by Chris Laursen and Gianni Paganini: Skepticism and Political Thought in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (University of Toronto Press, 2015). Complete information can be found here.

Online-First Articles at IJSS

A bunch of new online-first articles and reviews are available at the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism.

Rationalist Responses to Skeptical Hypotheses

Among the latest articles published in Philosophers' Imprint (vol. 15, February 2015), we find Tim Willenken's "Rationalist Responses to Skepticism: A New Puzzle." You can access it for free here.

Evolutionary Ethics

On March 27-28, 2015, Florida State University will hold a conference on evolutionary ethics, including evolutionary debunking arguments of morality. Some of the speakers are among the best specialists in this field. Complete information can be found here.

Call for Applications: Universität Hamburg

There's a call for applications for a professor position in the history of early modern philosophy at the Universität Hamburg. The main area of research and teaching is skepticism. Full information can be found here.

New Paper on Arcesilaus

The latest issue of Ancient Philosophy includes Charles Snyder's "The Socratic Benevolence of Arcesilaus' Dialectic." The paper can be found here.

Epistemological Skepticism

Most of the essays in the volume Current Controversies in Epistemology (Routledge, 2014), edited by Ram Neta, discuss a number of epistemological problems raised by skepticism. 

Issue 5.1 of IJSS

Volume 5, issue 1 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now out. It contains a symposium on Stanley Cavell's The Claim of Reason (featuring papers by Peter Fosl, Andrea Kern, and Stephen Mulhall), followed by a discussion co-authored by the late Tony Brueckner and two book reviews. To access the contents, click here.

Jewish Skepticism

From October 2015, and for a period of eight years, there will be a new research center at Hamburg University: Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies – Jewish Scepticism (HCAS–JS). The center's director will be Giuseppe Veltri. More information can be found here.