Yuval Avnur's New Book

Another book devoted to skepticism was published this month, this time as part of Cambridge’s Elements in Epistemology:

Yuval Avnur, The Skeptic and the Veridicalist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Complete information can be found here. It can still be downloaded for free.

Mark Walker's New Book

A new book devoted to skepticism was published this month:

Mark Walker, Outlines of Skeptical-Dogmatism. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2023.

The ancient Pyrrhonians skeptics suspended judgment about all philosophical views. Their main opponents were the Dogmatists—those who believed their preferred philosophical views. In Outlines of Skeptical-Dogmatism: On Disbelieving Our Philosophical Views, Mark Walker argues, contra Pyrrhonians and Dogmatists, for a "darker" skepticism: we should disbelieve our philosophical views. On the question of political morality, for example, we should disbelieve libertarianism, conservativism, socialism, liberalism, and any alternative ideologies. Since most humans have beliefs about philosophical subject matter, such as beliefs about religious and political matters, humanity writ large should disbelieve their preferred philosophical views. Walker argues that Skeptical-Dogmatism permits a more realistic estimation of our epistemic powers. Dogmatists who believe their view is correct, while believing that two or more competitor views of their opponents are false, must—at least implicitly—take themselves to be “über epistemic superiors” to their disagreeing colleagues. Such a self-assessment is as implausible as it is hubristic. Skeptical-Dogmatism, in contrast, permits a more realistic and humbler epistemic self-conception. The author also shows that there are no insuperable practical difficulties in living as a Skeptical-Dogmatist.

Issue 13.4 of IJSS

Issue 13.4 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism is now out. It is devoted to a symposium on John Pittard’s Disagreement, Deference, and Religious Commitment (OUP, 2019), with contributions by Tomás Bogardus & Michael Burton, Joshua Thurow, and John Kvanvig. The pieces can be found here: here.

Moral Skepticism

A new book on moral skepticism has just been published:

Shelly Kagan, Answering Moral Skepticism. Oxford University Press, 2023.

You can find more information here.

Issue 13.3 of IJSS

A new issue (13.3) of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism has been published. It contains articles by Refik Güremen and Mark Satta, critical notices by Dimitri Cunty and Daniel DeNicola, and book reviews by Tyler Wark and Anna Boncompagni. You can find it here.

Why We Doubt

The following book can already be bought in its electronic version and the hard copy will be out in a couple of weeks:

Ángel Pinillos, Why We Doubt: A Cognitive Account of Our Skeptical Inclinations (OUP, 2023).

More info can be found here. We are organizing a book symposium for the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism.

Conference on Skepticism and Naturalism

On September 3-5, 2023, the University of Oxford will host the conference “Scepticism and Naturalism: Hume, Wittgenstein, Strawson.” The aim of the conference is to advance our understanding of naturalism in the work of Hume, Wittgenstein, and P. F. Strawson, especially in these philosophers’ responses to skepticism. While there is no lack of interest in Strawson’s response to free will skepticism in “Freedom and Resentment,” there have been relatively few discussions of the broad vision which lies behind this response. This vision, which also guides Strawson’s treatments of perception and induction, focuses on general features of human nature that make skepticism of various kinds impossible to believe. Similarly, there has been insufficient inquiry into Strawson’s idea that Hume and Wittgenstein share his anti-skeptical naturalism. 

This international conference will bring together established and early career philosophers to explore these issues across two-and-a-half days. It is the closing conference of the five-year Roots of Responsibility ERC project, directed by Professor John Hyman.

Registration and further information are available here. Travel bursaries are available for students and others whose financial circumstances would prevent them from attending the conference.

Recent Work on Skepticism

You might be interested in this critical survey of recent work on radical skepticism in epistemology that has just been published:

Chris Ranalli, “Recent Work on Skepticism in Epistemology,” American Philosophical Quarterly (2023) 60 (3): 257–273.

The article can be found here.

Issue 13.2 of IJSS

Issue 13.2 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism has now been published. It is devoted to a symposium on Michael Bergmann’s Radical Skepticism and Epistemic Intuition (OUP, 2021). Below is the ToC and you can find the papers here.

M. Bergman: “Précis of Radical Skepticism and Epistemic Intuition.”

E. Chudnoff: “Skepticism Is Wrong for General Reasons.”

N. Lemos: “Seemings and the Response to Radical Skepticism.”

K. McCain: “Explaining Epistemic Intuitions: From Intuitionist Particularism to Intuitionist Explanationism.”

M. Bergmann: “Replies to Chudnoff, Lemos, and McCain.”

Religious Skepticism

While in Hamburg, I discovered two books on religious skepticism published a few years ago by the German academic publisher Mohr Siebeck:

Lance Ashdown, Anonymous Skeptics: Swinburne, Hick, and Alston. 2002. More info here.

Ingolf Dalferth and Michael Rodgers (eds.), Skeptical Faith. 2012. More info here.

New Translation of Contra Academicos

There’s a new French translation, with facing Latin text, of Augustine’s Contra Academicos:

Augustine, Contre les Académiciens. Texte établi, traduit et commenté par Anne-Isabelle Bouton-Touboulic. Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 2022.

More information can be found here or here.

Call for Proposals: Brill Studies in Skepticism

Are you working on a monograph or edited volume on the subject of philosophical skepticism? The editors of Brill Studies in Skepticism (BSS) would like to encourage you to submit proposals to be considered for publication in the book series.

Conceived of as a supplement to the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism, the series BSS aims to publish original historical scholarship and cutting-edge contemporary research on philosophical skepticism. The series covers a wide range of areas: the history of ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary skepticism, as well as systematic discussions of skeptical problems and arguments in epistemology, metaethics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Brill Studies in Skepticism therefore welcomes proposals for monographs and edited volumes from historians of philosophy and contemporary philosophers working in a variety of methods and traditions.

All proposals are evaluated by the Series Editors with the assistance of the members of the Advisory Board. If the proposed monograph or edited volume is deemed to make an original contribution to the study of the history or significance of philosophical skepticism, the author or editor will be invited to submit a complete manuscript, which will undergo double-blind peer review.

Please visit www.brill.com/BSS to browse publications in the series.

Proposals can be sent to the Series Editors, Diego Machuca (diegomachuca@gmail.com) and Duncan Pritchard (dhpritch@uci.edu).

Editors

Diego E. Machuca (CONICET, Argentina)

Duncan Pritchard (University of California, Irvine)

Advisory Board

John Greco (Saint Louis University)

John Christian Laursen (University of California, Riverside)

Casey Perin (University of California, Irvine)

Dominik Perler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Claudine Tiercelin (Collège de France)

Issue 13.1 of IJSS

Issue 13.1 of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism was published a couple of weeks ago. The contents, which include three articles, one critical notice, and a book review, can be found here.

Galen and Dreaming

I’d like to call attention to a recent article by Jonathan Barnes: “‘Do I Wake or Sleep?’ Galen, Scepticism, and Dreams,” in the recently published volume, R. J. Hankinson and Matyáš Havrda (eds.), Galen’s Epistemology: Experience, Reason, and Method in Ancient Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).

Seminar on Cicero's Academica

On May 12th, the department of philosophy of the Sapienza-Università di Roma will host the international seminar “Gli Academica di Cicerone: Ricerche e prospettive di studio.” The program can be found here and, fortunately, the talks can be watched online through Google Meet.

Lecture on Skepticism in Islamic Thought

Tomorrow, 9 May 2023, at 18:00, at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg Universität), Nadja Germann (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) will talk about “Before al-Ghazālī: Scepticism and Doubt in Early Islamic Thought.” More information here.

Lecture on Skepticism and Postmodernism

On May 2nd, at 18:00, David Myers (UCLA) will talk about “Scepticism, Postmodernism, and Modern Jewish Historiography” at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Hamburg Universität). More information can be found here.

Online Book Launch

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 19 April 2023, at 18:00, there will be the online launch of Cedric Cohen-Skalli’s and Libera Pisano’s edited volume, Skepsis and Antipolitics: The Alternative of Gustav Landauer (Brill, 2023). The event will take place on Zoom and, if you’d like to participate, you need to register by sending an email to maimonides-centre@uni-hamburg.de.

Cicero's Academica

In this post from June 2008, I said that Tobias Reinhardt was working on a philosophical and philological commentary on Cicero’s Academica. Well, it turns out that the book is finally out:

T. Reinhardt, Cicero’s Academici libri and Lucullus: A Commentary with Introduction and Translations (OUP, 2023).

More information about the book can be found by clicking here.

Hamburg

From the beginning of April to the end of August, I’ll be in Hamburg doing research on Pyrrhonian skepticism and on contemporary discussions of the epistemic significance of disagreement. If you know of any events related to these issues in the surrounding areas, please let me know.

Book on Ignorance

There is a new detailed study of ignorance that might be of interest to those working on skepticism:

Rik Peels, Ignorance: A Philosophical Study (OUP, 2023).

More information can be found here. Despite what the OUP webpage says, the book is already out.

Varieties of Anti-Skepticism

The latest issue of Topoi includes a long section devoted to varieties of anti-skepticism. Some of the articles are historical and some are systematic. The issue can be found here.

Volume on Bias & Inquiry

In connection with my previous post, here’s another book on bias some of whose chapters touch upon skepticism:

Nathan Ballantyne and David Dunning (eds.), Reason, Bias, and Inquiry: The Crossroads of Epistemology and Psychology (OUP, 2022).

More information here.

Bias

This new book on bias deals with skepticism to a considerable extent:

Thomas Kelly, Bias: A Philosophical Study. OUP, 2023.

Complete information is found here.

Hegel and Skepticism

You might be interested in this new book by Robb Dunphy:

Hegel and the Problem of Beginning: Scepticism and Presuppositionlessness (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).

For more information, go here.

Maimonides Lecture on Skepticism

Tomorrow (Tuesday 31st), at 18:00, will take place another Maimonides Lecture on Scepticism. Dimitrios A. Vasilakis (Universität Erfurt/University of Ioannina) will talk about “Dionysius the Areopagite between Faith and Scepticism: His Reception in the Twentieth Century.” More info here.

Call for Applications: Research Associate

The Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (Universität Hamburg) invites applications for a Research Associate (full-time position, fixed until 30 September 2024, salary level 14 TV-L). The position commences on 1 March 2023. The application deadline is on 15 February 2023. The successful candidate will focus their research on Jewish thought, philosophy, and/or religion with a special emphasis on scepticism. In addition to research, the successful candidate will be part of MCAS’s publication team. The position requires participation in MCAS’s events and an active engagement in MCAS’s activities. For complete information, go here

Call for Papers: Agnosticism

There is a call for papers for a special issue of the journal Philosophies devoted to “Agnosticism in the 21st Century.” Complete information can be found here.

Skepticism and Antipolitics

The second volume of the Maimonides Library for Philosophy and Religion book series has been published:

Cedric Cohen-Skalli and Libera Pisano (eds.), Skepsis and Antipolitics: The Alternative of Gustav Landauer (Boston & Leiden: Brill, 2022).

More information can be found here.

CFA: Maimonides Centre

The Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies (MCAS) at Universität Hamburg is inviting researchers to apply for its junior fellowship programme for the academic year 1 October 2023-30 September 2024, whose topic is “(Jewish) Scepticism as a Strategy and Challenge in Past and Present.” Complete information can be found here.