New Issue of Sképsis

The latest issue of the Brazilian journal Sképsis is available online here. As you already know, the papers can be downloaded for free.

Truth and Skepticism

Robert Almeder recently published Truth and Skepticism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), where he defends a pragmatist epistemological stance. More information can be found here.

Studia Philosophica

I've just discovered that the 2009 issue of Studia Philosophica (published by La Société Suisse de Philosophie) was devoted to the subject "forms of irrationality". There is one paper which directly deals with skepticism, namely, Yves Bossart's "Sind pyrrhonische Skeptiker irrational? Radikale Skepsis und die Grenzen der Rationalität". (Unfortunately, my German is very poor, but I'll spend some time trying to figure out what the author says because I wrote a paper on this specific subject.) The whole issue can be accessed for free here.

SSS 2011 Meeting

Here is the program for the session of the Society for Skeptical Studies at the Pacific Division meeting of the APA:

Saturday, April 23rd, at 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Chair: Sven Bernecker (University of California, Irvine)

Renata Zieminska (Uniwersytet Szczeciński): “Inconsistency of Pyrrhonian Skepticism.”

Heather Battaly (California State University, Fullerton): “Sosa’s Reflective Knowledge: How Damaging Is Epistemic Circularity?”

Mini-Course on Ancient Skepticism

Those living in Brazil will be interested in the following information:

MINI-CURSO: "O CETICISMO ANTIGO: UMA ABORDAGEM INTRODUTÓRIA," ministrado pelo Prof. DR. ROBERTO BOLZANI (USP)

Location:

Programa de Pós Graduação em Filosofia da UFBA, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Estrada de São Lázaro, nº 197 - Federação, CEP: 40210-730. Salvador, Brazil

Objetivo:

Pretende-se apresentar as principais características e conceitos do chamado Ceticismo Pirrônico grego, que floresceu e se desenvolveu entre os séculos IV a. C. e III d. C. Desde Pirro de Elis, filósofo sobre o qual pouco se sabe, até o médico Sexto Empírico, que provavelmente viveu em Alexandria na era cristã, passando por pensadores como Enesidemo e Agripa, essa corrente filosófica elaborou uma forma de pensamento dotada de coerência e consistência interna. Nas três aulas, tratar-se-á de comentar como se pode ver essa filosofia como um todo sistemático, abordando as noções fundamentais que a definiram.

Conteúdo:

1. Primeira aula (18/04, 11:00 ÀS 12:30h): "A procura da verdade, o conflito filosófico e a suspensão de juízo."

2. Segunda aula (19/04, 11:00 ÀS 12:30h): "O critério fenomênico de conduta."

3. Terceira aula (20/04, 11:00 ÀS 12:30h): "Concepção empírico-experimental de técnica fenomênica."

As Inscrições serão realizadas na na Secretaria da Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da UFBA.

Endereço:

Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da UFBA.

Estrada de São Lázaro, 197 - Federação

Salvador - Bahia - 40210-730

Ancient Empiricism and Early Modern Medicine

Pete White has called my attention to a paper that might be of interest to those working on skepticism and the ancient empirical school of medicine:

Gianna Pomata, "A Word of the Empirics: The Ancient Concept of Observation and its Recovery in Early Modern Medicine," Annals of Science 68. The article can be found here.

US in September

Probably in September, I'll spend two weeks at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington with a research fellowship. If possible, I'll try to spend one more week in the US and try to attend some talks/conferences/workshops in the area. So if any reader from the US knows of any event on skepticism in ancient philosophy, epistemology, or metaethics, please let me know. Thanks.

Conference on Hume and Religious Skepticism

Sébastien Charles and Noémie Verhoef (Sherbrooke) have organized the conference "Athéisme, déisme et scepticisme au siècle des Lumières: les Dialogues sur la religion naturelle de Hume," which will take place at the Université de Sherbrooke on May 9-11. Complete information can be found here.

Berkeley and Skepticism

The latest issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy features Jonathan Hill's "Berkeley's Missing Argument: The Sceptical Attack on Intentionality". The paper can be found here.

Ancient Skepticism - Philosophy Compass

I don't usually post information about my publications, but in this case I'll make an exception: a series of three articles on ancient skepticism which I wrote a while ago has just come out in Philosophy Compass. I'm not completely satisfied with the final result: it's difficult to write a survey article which must be accessible to non-specialists but which at the same cannot be elementary. In any case, these three pieces give at least a good overview of the scholarly literature, not only in English, but also in French, Italian, and (to a much lesser extent) German and Spanish. In addition, some parts of the section on Sextus Empiricus in the third article – in particular, the discussion of the nature and purpose of the Pyrrhonist's investigation – contain a couple of (what I think are) original thoughts/interpretations.

Skepticism & Evil

The latest issue of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy features Jim Stone's "CORNEA, Scepticism and Evil". To access the paper, click here.

Philosophical Perspectives

The latest issue of Philosophical Perspectives features articles on epistemology by an impressive lineup of specialists. Click here to access the issue.

One-Day Conference on Skepticism

Next Friday 25, there will be a journée d'étude on skepticism ("Polémiques autour du scepticisme") at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (Site Descartes, Salle F 101). Here's the program:

9h30-10h15: Stéphane Marchand, "Doute et scepticisme dans la tradition pyrrhonienne".

10h15-11h: Emmanuel Naya, "Réception et distorsions du scepticisme à la Renaissance".

11h15-12h: Gianni Paganini, "Entre l'épochè et le doute. Petite histoire de l'impossibilité de vivre le scepticisme".

12h-12h45: Delphine Kolesnik-Antoine, "Peut-on penser un 'cartesianisme sceptique'? Philosophie première et philosophie naturelle chez Regius".

14h-14h45: Sylvia Giocanti, "La détermination cartésienne à se débarrasser du scepticisme".

14h45-15h30: Nawalle El Yadari, "Pascal et le retournement de la déraison sceptique".

16h-16h45: Elodie Argaud, "Un gauchissement contre un autre? Scepticisme et épicurisme autour de l'argument du consentement universel dans la Continuation des Pensées diverses".

16h45-17h30: Jean-Pierre Grima, "Le scepticisme des Lumières".

Moral Error Theory

Those working on contemporary ethical skepticism will be interested to know about two relatively recent papers on the moral error theory by Hallvard Lillehammer (Univ. of Cambridge):

- "Debunking Morality: Evolutionary Naturalism and Moral Error Theory," Biology and Philosophy 18 (2003). Downloadable here.

- "Moral Error Theory," Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 104 (2004). Downloadable here.