Looking for Papers

I'm looking for the following two papers because I'm working on a couple of pieces on ancient skepticism. Any help will be much appreciated.

- P. Aubenque, "Vérité et scepticisme. Sur les limites d'une réfutation philosophique du scepticisme", Diogène 132, pp. 100-110.

- C. Schmitt, "An Unstudied Fifteenth-Century Latin Translation of Sextus Empiricus by Giovanni Lorenzi", 244–261 in C. H. Clough (ed.), Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance: Essays in Honor of Paul Oskar Kristeller. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976.

Sosa and Skepticism

The latest issue of Metaphilosophy features Otávio Bueno's paper "Sosa on Skepticism", which forms part of a symposium on Ernest Sosa. Here is the abstract:

"Ernest Sosa has recently articulated an insightful response to skepticism and, in particular, to the dream argument. The response relies on two independent moves. First, Sosa offers the imagination model of dreaming according to which no assertions are ever made in dreams and no beliefs are involved there. As a result, it is possible to distinguish dreaming from being awake, and the dream argument is blocked. Second, Sosa develops a virtue epistemology according to which in appropriately normal conditions our perceptual beliefs will be apt. Hence, in these conditions, we will have at least animal knowledge, and the conclusion of the dream argument is undermined. In this article, I examine various moves that the skeptic can make to resist Sosa's challenge, and I contrast the proposal to a neo-Pyrrhonian stance. In the end, there is surprisingly little disagreement about the status of ordinary perceptual beliefs in the two stances."

To access the paper, go here.

Call for Papers: Skepticism and Enlightenment

A bilingual conference (English/French) on “Skepticism and Enlightenment” will be held in 2009-2010 at the University of São Judas Tadeu in São Paulo (December 2-4, 2009) and at the Montréal's campus of the University of Sherbrooke (April 14-16, 2010). The first part at São Paulo is devoted to "Skepticism in the Enlightenment from Bayle to the Encyclopédie" and the second part in Montréal to "Skepticism in the Enlightenment from the Encyclopédie to the German Idealism". If there is already a list of invited papers, some space is available for uninvited papers, in particular for Ph. D. students and post-doctoral students. All propositions (title and abstract) have to be send before August 1st, 2009 and will be submitted to a panel of three readers who will select the best ones. For more information, do not hesitate to contact Plinio Junqueira Smith (plinio.smith@pq.cnpq.br) and/or Sébastien Charles (Sebastien.Charles@USherbrooke.ca).

Upcoming Event

Armando Cíntora (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México) is organizing a conference entitled "Escepticismo Filosófico", which will take place in Mexico City on November 23-25. For more information, click on the image below.

Skeptical Society

As some of you already know, last year we created the International Society for the Study of Skepticism. Remember that, if you would like to become a member, you can contact me by e-mail.

Porchat

Someone has just asked me here why I didn't include Oswaldo Porchat Pereira in the list of specialists. The reason is simply that I thought he didn't have a webpage. I’ve just found out that he does have one, so he is now on the list.

New Book

Vrin has just published Quel savoir après le scepticisme? Plotin et ses prédécesseurs sur la connaissance de soi by Wilfried Kühn, a researcher at the CNRS in France. For detailed information, go here.

Talk on Skepticism

Next Friday, at 14.00, Mauro Bonazzi (Università degli Studi di Milano) will deliver the paper "Le commentateur anonyme du Théétète, le scepticisme et l'invention du platonisme". The venue is the École Normale Supérieure, salle Jules Ferry (29, rue d’Ulm, Paris). For more information, go here.

Medieval Skepticism

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role played by skepticism in medieval philosophy. In this regard, I wish to let you know about this book that will be published by Brill this year: Henrik Lagerlund (ed.), Rethinking the History of Skepticism. The Missing Medieval Background. For information, click here.

Another Forthcoming Book on Ancient Skepticism

I've just received excellent news: Anna Maria Ioppolo, professor at the "La Sapienza" University in Rome and a renowned specialist in Academic skepticism, will publish La testimonianza di Sesto Empirico sull’Accademia scettica. The book is scheduled to be published in June by Bibliopolis.

Among Ioppolo's publications we find:

"Il concetto di 'eulogon' nella filosofia di Arcesilao", in Giannantoni (ed.), Lo scetticismo antico. Napoli: Bibliopolis, 1981.

Opinione e scienza. Il dibattito tra Stoici e Accademici nel III e nel II secolo a.C. Napoli: Bibliopolis, 1986.

"Su alcune recenti interpretazioni dello scetticismo dell'Academia. Plutarch. Adv. Col. 26, 1121F-1122F: una testimonianza su Arcesilao", Elenchos 21 (2000).

"Gli Accademici neoteroi nel secondo secolo d. C.", Méthexis 15 (2002).

"L'assenso nella filosofia di Clitomaco: un problema di linguaggio?", in Ioppolo and Sedley (eds.), Pyrrhonists, Praticians, Platonizers. Hellenistic philosophy in the period 155–86 BC. Tenth Symposium Hellenisticum. Elenchos 47. Napoli: Bibliopolis, 2007.

"Arcésilas dans le Lucullus de Cicéron", Revue de métaphysique et de morale 57 (2008).

Forthcoming Book on Ancient Pyrrhonism

It seems that Casey Perin (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) is working on a book entitled The Demands of Reason: An Essay on Pyrrhonian Scepticism, which will be published this year by Oxford University Press.

Conference on Belief and Disagreement

On August 18-20, at the VU University Amsterdam, there will be an international conference entitled Responsible Belief in the Face of Disagreement. Needless to say, this event will be of interest to people working on skepticism. Detailed information is available here.

Bayle and Pyrrhonism

On February 11th, at 3 pm, John Christian Laursen (University of California, Riverside) will deliver a paper on Bayle and Pyrrhonism at the Centro de Investigaciones Filosóficas in Buenos Aires. The title of the piece is "Pierre Bayle: Pyrrhonism contra Reason in the Commentaire philosophique".

New Issue of Sképsis

The third issue of the Brazilian journal Sképsis, which is entirely devoted to skepticism, is already available online. Click here to go to the site.