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The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: a Critique of Popkin's "Sceptical Crisis" and a Study of Descartes and Hume

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The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: a Critique of Popkin's University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School March 2019 The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: A Critique of Popkin's "Sceptical Crisis" and a Study of Descartes and Hume Raman Sachdev University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Scholar Commons Citation Sachdev, Raman, "The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: A Critique of Popkin's "Sceptical Crisis" and a Study of Descartes and Hume" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7920 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: A Critique of Popkin’s “Sceptical Crisis” and a Study of Descartes and Hume by Raman Sachdev A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: Roger Ariew, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Douglas Jesseph, Ph.D. Alexander Levine, Ph.D. William Goodwin, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 29, 2019 Keywords: Academic, Cartesian, Humean, hyperbolic doubt, Montaigne, Pyrrhonism Copyright © 2019, Raman Sachdev Acknowledgments I would like to thank my dissertation committee members, Professors Alex Levine and William Goodwin, and my Co-Major Professor, Doug Jesseph, for their support. I am especially grateful to my Co-Major Professor, Roger Ariew. During my time as a doctoral student at the University of South Florida and, in particular, throughout my process of writing this dissertation, Professor Ariew has offered me his time, his guidance, and his encouragement. In addition, his scholarly work has provided me with an exemplary model for how to do research in the history of philosophy. I am thankful to my friends and colleagues at the University of South Florida whom I have gotten to know over the past few years. They include Simon Dutton, Daniel Goodson, Dahlia Guzman, Dwight Lewis, Erli Mertika, Alex Shillito, Zach Vereb, Brad Warfield, and John Walsh. I thank my parents-in-law, Ashok Kumar and Indu Gupta, for their love and blessings. I thank my uncle, Salil Sachdev, for showing me that happiness is an attainable goal. To my brother, Rohit, and my sister, Richa: a rambunctious and obnoxious boy like myself could not have asked for better siblings. To my parents, Vivek and Sadhna Sachdev: words cannot express how grateful I am for all that you have done for me. Finally, to my wife, Sonal: you are my guide, my inspiration, my strength, and my motivation. I am fortunate to love you and to be loved by you, and I am a better man because of you. Table of Contents Abbreviations.................................................................................................................................. iii Abstract........................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Popkin and I: Our Respective Motivations ...................................................................... 3 II. Popkin’s “Sceptical Crisis” ............................................................................................ 4 III. Defining Skepticism, Naming a Skeptic ....................................................................... 5 IV. An Outline of the Project .............................................................................................. 7 Chapter One: Ancient Skepticism and Early Modern Skepticism before Descartes....................... 9 I. Pyrrhonism Against the Dogmatists: Equipollence, Suspension of Judgment, and Tranquility............................................................................................................. 10 II. Academicism: Probabilistic Reasoning and Universal Inapprehensibility................... 18 III. Pre-Cartesian Skepticism............................................................................................. 24 IIIa. Francisco Sanches Against the Aristotelians: That Nothing is Known.............................................................................................................. 28 IIIb. Michel de Montaigne: Against Intellectual Arrogance and Human Vanity............................................................................................................... 32 IIIc. Pierre Charron: Much Like Montaigne, Seeker of Wisdom.......................... 38 IV. Conclusion................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter Two: Popkin on Descartes and Skepticism...................................................................... 45 I. Popkin’s History of Skepticism: The “Sceptical Crisis”................................................ 45 II. Descartes and the Threat of Skepticism........................................................................ 50 III. Descartes’ Certainty through Pyrrhonism.................................................................... 59 IV. Descartes on His First Meditation Skepticism............................................................. 64 V. Hyperbolic Doubt in Part One of the Principles of Philosophy.................................... 66 VI. Descartes’ Works without Hyperbolic Doubt.............................................................. 69 VIa. The Regulae................................................................................................... 70 VIb. The Discourse on Method.............................................................................. 75 VIc. The Geometrical Presentation of the Meditations......................................... 78 VII. Descartes’ Concession................................................................................................ 83 VIII. Conclusion................................................................................................................ 86 i Chapter Three: Descartes and Skepticism..................................................................................... 90 I. The Influence of Skepticism on Descartes’ Thought..................................................... 91 II. Montaigne, Sextus, and Cicero in the Discourse on Method........................................ 93 III. Descartes’ Views on Skepticism: The Correspondence............................................ 100 IIIa. On the Pyrrhonists, the Skeptics, and Skepticism........................................ 103 IIIb. On the Use of Doubt.................................................................................... 107 IV. Conclusion................................................................................................................. 111 Chapter Four: Hume and Skepticism........................................................................................... 114 I. Descartes the Anti-Skeptic, Hume the Skeptic............................................................. 115 II. Hume’s Criticisms of Cartesian Skepticism................................................................ 120 III. Pierre Bayle: “Supersceptical” Fideist....................................................................... 124 IV. Popkin on Hume’s Pyrrhonism.................................................................................. 129 IVa. Hume the Pyrrhonist: Dogmatist and Skeptic.............................................. 131 IVb. Melancholy versus Tranquility.................................................................... 136 IVc. Hume the Just Reasoner............................................................................... 139 V. Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 142 Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 144 References.................................................................................................................................... 148 ii Abbreviations A Descartes, René. Philosophical Essays and Correspondence. Edited and Translated by Roger Ariew. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. Cited by page number following the citation of AT. AC Descartes, René. Meditations, Objections, and Replies. Edited and Translated by Roger Ariew and Donald Cress. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006. Cited by page number following the citation of AT. AT Descartes, René. Œuvres de Descartes. Edited by Charles Adam and Paul Tannery. Paris, 1910. Cited by volume and page numbers. CSM Descartes, René. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volumes I–II. Translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1984–1985. Cited by volume and page numbers following the citation of AT. CSMK Descartes, René. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume III, The Correspondence. Translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, Dugald Murdoch, and Anthony Kenny. New York,
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