Ian Hinckfuss' "The Moral Society"

Lately, I've been reading more about contemporary ethical skepticism and Mackie's moral error theory, and have found out that Ian Hinckfuss (who passed away in 1997) defended an interesting version of ethical nihilism in his book The Moral Society: Its Structure and Effects (Canberra: Australian National University, 1987). (The original, cool title of the book was To Hell with Morality.) Although the book is out of print, I've found an online version which incorporates some revisions. To access the file, go here (if you encounter any problem, let me know).

Influence of Cicero's Academica

Sylvia Giocanti and Emmanuel Naya have organized a journée d'étude entitled "La fécondité des Académiques de Cicéron dans l’histoire du scepticisme." This event is supported by GRAC/CERPHI (ENS-Lyon). Here's is the program in French:

Vendredi 7 janvier 2011, de 8h30 à 12h30 et de 14h à 16h, Université de Toulouse II-Le Mirail, Département de Philosophie, Bâtiment 18, salle 214.

MATIN

Stéphane Marchand (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon): "Les Academica dans le Contra Academicos d’Augustin : sur l’usage et le détournement dogmatique du scepticisme."

Christophe Grellard (Université de Paris I): "La seconde acculturation chrétienne de Cicéron: la réception des Académiques aux IXème-XIIème siècles."

Emmanuel Naya (Université de Lyon II): "Skepsis in utramque partem: la place de la Nouvelle Académie dans la redécouverte du scepticisme à la Renaissance."

Luiz Alvez Eva (Université de Parana, Brésil): "Montaigne lecteur des Académiques."

APRÈS MIDI

Sylvia Giocanti (Université de Toulouse II): "Comment traiter de ce qui n’est ni entièrement certain ni indubitable ? Descartes héritier des Académiques de Cicéron."

Sébastien Charles (Université de Sherbrooke, Canada): "Cicero Redivivus: Foucher, apôtre moderne de l’académisme et critique du cartésianisme."

Workshop on Ancient Skepticism

Josef Moural has organized a workshop on ancient skepticism which will be held in Prague on December 18th. Here is the program:

10 a.m.

Mauro Bonazzi (Università degli Studi di Milano): "Plutarch on the Difference between Academics and Pyrrhonists."

Markus Lammenranta (University of Helsinki): "Agrippa's Problem."

(12-13:30 lunch break)

Josef Moural (Universita J. E. Purkyně, Ústí nad Labem): "What Kind of Investigation the Pyrrhonist Continues to Pursue after the epochê."

Baptiste Bondu (Université Paris Ouest, Nanterre): "What Kind of Subjectivity Does the Sceptical phainomenon Involve in Sextus' Texts?" Update: the new title of this paper is: "What Kind of Experience Does Sextus Empiricus Accept for the Sceptic?"

The Workshop takes place in room 342 of the Celetná building of the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, Prague (Celetná 20, 110 00 Praha 1). Those interested in attending must contact Josef Moural at this address.

Nietzsche and Ancient Skepticism

A new book on skepticism has just come out:

Jessica Berry (Georgia State University), Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition (OUP, 2010). For more information, go here.

The Sophists

There's a new book on the sophists by Mauro Bonazzi (Università degli Studi di Milano). Given the skeptical elements detectable in the sophists, I think the book might be of interest to those working on the antecedents of the skepticism of the Hellenistic and Imperial ages. Here's the information:

M. Bonazzi, I sofisti. Roma: Carocci, 2010. € 16,50.

Table of Contents

1. I sofisti: storia di un nome e di un pregiudizio

Chi sono i sofisti?/Polemisti, cattivi maestri e falsi filosofi: le accuse contro i sofisti

2. L’essere e la verità, l’uomo e la realtà

La verità di Protagora: l’interpretazione gnoseologica/La verità di Protagora: le conseguenze pratiche/Gorgia: la dialettica del non essere/Due testimonianze nel solco della discussione di Gorgia: Seniade e Licofrone/La realtà secondo Antifonte/Dalla physis al logos: presocratici e sofisti

3. Un mondo di parole: i sofisti tra grammatica, retorica, poesia e filosofia

Grammatica e correttezza dei nomi/Critica letteraria e critica della tradizione poetica/ Retorica, sofistica e filosofia/Dal logos al nomos, dal linguaggio alla politica

4. La giustizia e la legge

La giustizia secondo Protagora/Contro il nomos: da Gorgia a Callicle/Trasimaco e il realismo politico/ Antifonte e la logica dell’individuo/Altri avversari del nomos/Il problema dell’uguaglianza/Attualità dei sofisti

5. Insegnare la virtù: i sofisti tra felicità e successo

Gli immoralisti/La morale della concordia di Antifonte/La scelta di Prodico (e di Ippia)

6. Gli dei e la religione

L’agnosticismo di Protagora/L’origine della credenza negli dei/Provvidenza e giustizia divina: questioni di teodicea

Appendice. I sofisti e i saperi specialistici (technai)

Moral Skepticism

The latest issue of Ratio features Robert Stern's "Moral Scepticism and Agency: Kant and Korsgaard". To access the paper, click here.

Call for Papers

University of Edinburgh, Graduate Epistemology Conference: We invite submissions of papers from graduate students to the Edinburgh Graduate Epistemology Conference, which will take place on the 18-19 March 2011. Essays within any area of epistemology are welcome. Essays should be approximately 4000 words. The submission deadline for the conference is 10 January 2011. Although conference attendance is free, you must register for the conference if you plan on attending. Space is limited, so please register as early as possible.

Keynote Speakers:

- Ernest Sosa (Rutgers)

- Richard Swinburne (Oxford)

This graduate conference will be unique in that graduate presentations will have respondents from the faculty at Edinburgh and other neighbouring universities.

Please send the following to uofe.epistemology@gmail.com in .doc, .rtf, or .pdf format:

1) A cover letter containing

a) the author’s name and institutional affiliation

b) the author’s contact information

c) word count

d) the area(s) of epistemology the paper deals with.

2) The paper itself, including the title and a short abstract (no more than 200 words).

For further information, please visit email Tony Bolos at A.Bolos@sms.ed.ac.uk.

Edition of Montaigne's Essays

I've just found out about this very recent French edition of Montaigne's Essays:

Michel de Montaigne, Les Essais, edited by E. Naya, D. Reguig-Naya, and A. Tarrête. Paris: Gallimard, 2009. Collection "Folio classique," 3 volumes, 2182 pages, € 21,10. This new edition is based on the Exemplaire de Bordeaux.

Garner's Beyond Morality

In 1994, Richard Garner published Beyond Morality (Temple University Press), where he defends a form of ethical skepticism. He is now working on the revision of this book. The revised versions of eleven of the twelve chapters can be found here.

The Epistemic Renegade

Bryan Frances' "The Reflective Epistemic Renegade," which in part discusses a form of radical skepticism, has recently been published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. To access the paper, go here.

Epistemology Conference in Sweden

The European Epistemology Network (EEN) provides a platform for cooperation and exchange among epistemologists and those interested in the theory of knowledge in Europe. The 2011 meeting is held in Lund, Sweden, from Thu 17th to Sat 19th of March.

To contribute, please prepare a max. 500 word abstract for blind review. Send it to frank.zenker@fil.lu.se on or before NOV 30, 2010. Expect a letter of acceptance within two weeks.

Speakers

- Igor Douven (University of Groningen)

- Pascal Engel (University of Geneva)

- Stephan Hartmann (University of Tilburg)

- Klemens Kappel (University of Copenhagen)

- Erik Olsson (University of Lund)

- Duncan Pritchard (University of Edinburgh)

- Rene van Woudenberg (University of Amsterdam)

- Claudine Tiercelin (College de France, Paris)

Links

http://www.fil.lu.se/conferences/conference.asp?id=44&lang=se

http://epistemologynetwork.com/

Roundtable Reminder

Just a reminder: next Friday, a roundtable discussion of two recent books on ancient skepticism will take place at the Centre Léon Robin in Paris. For more information, look at this previous post.

Volume on Disagreement

The collective volume Disagreement, edited by R. Feldman and T. A. Warfield and published by OUP, has just come out. For information, go here. Needless to say, the book will appeal to those interested in the skeptical discussion of disagreement in both ethics and epistemology.

Purdue Summer Seminar

Recent PhDs and ABD graduate students in philosophy, theology, psychology, or cognitive science are invited to apply for the 2011 Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism to be held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN from June 8th to June 24th, 2011. The seminar will be directed by Michael Bergmann (Purdue) and the guest speakers will be Justin Barrett (Oxford) and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Duke).

The topics of the seminar are:

EPISTEMOLOGY: The epistemology of perceptual, moral, and religious belief

SKEPTICISM: Responses to skepticism about perceptual, moral, and religious belief

DISAGREEMENT: Moral and religious disagreement as grounds for unbelief

EVOLUTION: Evolutionary accounts of moral and religious belief as reasons for skepticism

Participants will receive a stipend of $5,000 from which they will pay for their travel, food, and lodging. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 1, 2010. For more information, including information on how to apply, go to: http://www.knowinginreligionandmorality.com/seminar.html.