Against the Evolutionary Debunking of Morality

The latest issue of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (93, 2016) includes William Talbott's “A New Reliability Defeater from Evolutionary Naturalism.” The paper can be found here.

Conference on Doubt and Skepticism

On May 4-6 2017, there will be an interdisciplinary conference, “From Reasonable Doubt to Undue Scepticism,” at Birkbeck College, London. The conference will bring together scholars from various disciplines (psychology, epistemology, philosophy of science, law, statistics) and practicing professionals (lawyers/judges, clinicians, climate scientists, forensic scientists, journalists) to work towards an understanding of reasoning and decision-making under uncertainty through the lens of the notion of ‘reasonable doubt’. The goal is not only to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue, but also to pay particular attention to everyday practice. This should shed new light on epistemological and psychological questions about the nature and dynamics of belief and action, as well as on difficult judicial issues. Fostering such a dialogue among disciplines, and between researchers and practitioners, should also have implications for currently pressing societal issues such as the role and credentials of experts in democracy, conspiracy theories, science denial, and the epistemology and psychology of the social media — in short, societal concerns rooted in the difficulty of navigating an overwhelming mass of information.

Keynote speakers

Professor Branden Fitelson (Northeastern University)

Professor Larry Laudan (University of Texas at Austin)

Professor Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Bristol)

Professor Paul Roberts (University of Nottingham)

Professor Dan Simon (University of Southern California Gould School of Law)

Call for papers

In addition to the keynote presentations, a few slots will be open for contributed papers. We invite submissions from scholars or practitioners in any field relevant to the topic of the conference. The deadline for submission is December 20th, 2016. Among the issues to be addressed are the following: What is the meaning of ‘reasonable doubt’ as a legal standard of proof (how should it be understood, and how is it, in practice)? What would a Bayesian decision-theoretical account of ‘reasonable doubt’ as a possible norm of reasoning and decision-making look like? Are there criteria to tell apart reasonable doubts from unreasonable ones? Who is legitimate in setting them, and in virtue of what kind of credentials? How can critical thinking be promoted without encouraging science denial and undermining the credentials of scientists? More generally, any reflection on how experts (climate scientists, forensic scientists, health professionals, etc.) and decision-makers, but also journalists having to pass on information to the public, deal with doubt and uncertainty in their day-to-day work would be welcome.

Further information about the conference’s topic and specific issues to be addressed, as well as the submission page, are available at: http://readoubtproject.wixsite.com/conference. For any question, please write to readoubtproject@gmail.com.

Evolutionary Debunking of Morality

For those interested in evolutionary debunking arguments in ethics, here are three good (advanced) overviews:

K. Mason, “Debunking Arguments and the Genealogy of Religion and Morality,” Philosophy Compass 5 (2010): 770–778. (Click here.)

K. Vavova, “Evolutionary Debunking of Moral Realism,” Philosophy Compass 10 (2015): 104–116. (Click here.)

E. Wielenberg, “Ethics and Evolutionary Theory,” forthcoming in Analysis. (Click here.)

International Conference on Skepticism in Hamburg

There is a Call for Papers for an International Conference on Scepticism, organized by the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies – Jewish Scepticism. The conference will be held on 8-11 May, 2017 at the University of Hamburg (Germany). The conference committee invites six young scholars (PhD candidates and postdocs) to participate in one of the two round-table discussions of the conference by giving a 20-minute lecture on a topic broadly related to scepticism, followed by 10–20 minutes of discussion and Q&A. The topics of the roundtables are: “Scepticism in Antiquity and the Middle Ages” (three lectures) and “Scepticism in (Early) Modern and Contemporary Times” (three lectures). All lectures should be based on current or future research projects.

PhD candidates or postdocs who wish to present papers are requested to submit a 200-word abstract and a CV until 15th October 2016 to the e-mail account listed below. Expenses for travel and accommodation will be covered by the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies.

For further information and questions please contact:

Maria Wazinski

e-mail: maria.wazinski@uni-hamburg.de

phone: +49-(0)40-42838-8605

Hume's Skepticism

A new book on Hume's skepticism has just been published in series SpringerBriefs in Philosophy: David Hume, Sceptic, by Zuzana Parusniková. For more information, go here.

Skepticism and Politics in Cicero

Palgrave Macmillan has just published Walter Nicgorski's Cicero's Skepticism and His Recovery of Political Philosophy. For complete information, click here.

Gorgias

Those interested in the “skeptical” aspects of the Sophists' views might want to know about the publication of a new French translation of both Platon's Gorgias and Gorgias's Encomium of Helen: 

Gorgias de Platon, suivi d'Éloge d'Hélène de Gorgias, translated by Stéphane Marchand and Pierre Ponchon (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2016).

For more information, go here.

Garner's Beyond Morality

In 1994, Richard Garner published Beyond Morality (Temple University Press), in which he defends moral error theory and moral abolitionism. The book was out of print for a few years, but in 2014 was republished by Echo Point Books & Media. For more information, go here.

Job at Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies

Pending approval of external funding, the Universität Hamburg invites applications for a Research Associate for the project “Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies - Jewish Scepticism.” The position starts on 01.01.2017 and will be associated to the Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the Department of Humanities/Philosophy at the University of Hamburg. The position is remunerated at the salary level TV-L 14 and calls for 39 hours per week. The term is fixed to 28.02.2019. The University aims to increase the number of women in research and teaching and explicitly encourages women to apply. Equally qualified female applicants will receive preference in accordance with the Hamburg Equality Act.

Responsibilities: 

Duties include academic services in the project named above. Research associates can also pursue independent research and further academic qualifications. 

Specific Duties: 

The successful applicant will be responsible for the publication series of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies and conduct research within the field of (Jewish) Scepticism. 

Requirements: 

A university degree in a relevant subject plus doctorate. Furthermore the following skills and work experience are required: 

- Native English language skills. 

- The knowledge of additional languages relevant for the project, such as Hebrew, French, Italian, Latin, Greek or Arabic, is desirable. 

- Experience in publishing and editing scientific publications (monographs, text editions, etc.). 

- Profound knowledge in (Jewish) philosophy.The applicant's research should be directly connected to a field relevant to the Maimonides Centre's research focus. 

- Applicants not proficient in German are expected to acquire proficiency in due time. 

Severely disabled applicants will receive preference over equally qualified non-disabled applicants. 

For further information, please contact Maria Wazinski, M.A. (maria.wazinski@uni-hamburg.de) or consult the Centre's website at https://www.maimonides-centre.uni-hamburg.de/en.html. 

Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and copies of degree certificate(s), a publication list and two recommendation letters. The application deadline is 20.09.2016. 

Please send applications to: maria.wazinski@uni-hamburg.de. Interviews will be held in October 2016.

The Hiddenness Argument

John Schellenberg (Mount Stain Vincent University) recently published another book in philosophy of religion: The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy's New Challenge to Belief in God (OUP, 2015).

Skepticism in Kant

The latest issue of the European Journal of Philosophy (42/2, 2016) contains Owen Ware's “Skepticism in Kant's Groundwork.” It can be found here.

Again on the Scope of Sextus's Skepticism

The latest issue of the Italian journal Syzetesis (III/1, 2016) contains Massimo Catapano's “Natura e storia nello scetticismo urbano di Sesto Empirico.” I don't know how good the article is because haven't had the time to read it yet, but you can access the entire issue for free here.

New Issue of Sképsis

Issue 13 of the Brazilian journal Sképsis is now out. You can access it for free here.

Wittgenstein and Skepticism

There's a new entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy dealing with Wittgenstein's views on skepticism and recent Wittgenstein-inspired anti-skeptical strategies: Wittgenstein: Epistemology, by Nicola Claudio Salvatore (University of Campinas).