SLS's Inaugural Session: Reminder

I'd just like to remind you that on Thursday, February 25th, at 11:00-12:30 US Central Time (17:00-18:30 GMT), Mark Walker will present “Hubris and the Self-Undermining Objection to Conciliationism.” If you haven't received the link to join the meeting yet, please check your spam folder.

CFP Popkin Conference

On June 21-23, the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg University) will host the conference “Judaism, Zionism, and Scepticism in the Scholarship of Richard H. Popkin.” There is a call for papers for PhD candidates and postdocs whose deadline is February 28th. Go here for detailed information.

Dissertation on Skepticism in Descartes

On February 19th, at 15:00 Finnish time (= 13:00 GMT), Jan Forsman will defend his PhD dissertation titled “Of Dreams, Demons, and Whirlpools: Doubt, Skepticism, and Suspension of Judgment in Descartes's Meditations.” You can find a summary of the dissertation and the link to the zoom meeting here.

Spam Folder

For various reasons, lately I've been slower than usual in replying to emails. But over the past few days several people have told me that the emails from my gmail account ended up in their spam folder. So, if I still owe you a reply or if you haven't yet received the information for attending the first meeting of the Skepticism Lecture Series, please take a look there first. Thanks.

Skepticism Lecture Series: Session I

The Skepticism Lecture Series (SLS) is taking shape. The first online session will take place on Zoom on February 25th, at 11:00-12:30 US Central Time (17:00-18:30 GMT). Mark Walker, Richard L. Hedden Chair of Advanced Philosophical Studies at New Mexico State University, will present “Hubris and the Self-Undermining Objection to Conciliationism.” Here's the abstract:

A familiar objection to Conciliationism is that it is self-undermining: Conciliationism (at least some forms of it) requires us to sometimes hold skeptical views about disputed matters. Since Conciliationism itself is disputed, it appears that Conciliationists should be skeptical about Conciliationism. The argument of this paper is that the philosophical opponents of Conciliationists, Steadfasters, are not epistemic peers. The hubris of Steadfasters makes them epistemic inferiors; hence, Conciliationists are not required to conciliate with Steadfasters.

If you interested in attending, please send me an email. I'll post a reminder a few days before the meeting. And a provisional webpage for the SLS can be found here.

The Skepticism of Francisco Sánchez

On Tuesday, February 9, at 7:30 pm ET, Marcelo Broitman, Adjunct Professor of Spanish at Yeshiva University, will discuss his book Francisco Sánchez y el redescubrimiento de la duda en el Renacimiento. Tracing philosophical skepticism from its origins in Ancient Greece until its recovery in the Renaissance, the book focuses on the work of Francisco Sánchez, a Spanish-Portuguese philosopher and physician of Jewish ancestry. Ronnie Perelis, Isaac Abraham, and Jelena Alcalay will moderate the discussion. You must register here to receive the Zoom link.