An Asymmetrical Justification of Deduction: Ending the Sceptical.Debate
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Would ''Direct Realism'' Resolve the Classical Problem of Induction?
NOU^S 38:2 (2004) 197–232 Would ‘‘Direct Realism’’ Resolve the Classical Problem of Induction? MARC LANGE University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill I Recently, there has been a modest resurgence of interest in the ‘‘Humean’’ problem of induction. For several decades following the recognized failure of Strawsonian ‘‘ordinary-language’’ dissolutions and of Wesley Salmon’s elaboration of Reichenbach’s pragmatic vindication of induction, work on the problem of induction languished. Attention turned instead toward con- firmation theory, as philosophers sensibly tried to understand precisely what it is that a justification of induction should aim to justify. Now, however, in light of Bayesian confirmation theory and other developments in epistemology, several philosophers have begun to reconsider the classical problem of induction. In section 2, I shall review a few of these developments. Though some of them will turn out to be unilluminating, others will profitably suggest that we not meet inductive scepticism by trying to justify some alleged general principle of ampliative reasoning. Accordingly, in section 3, I shall examine how the problem of induction arises in the context of one particular ‘‘inductive leap’’: the confirmation, most famously by Henrietta Leavitt and Harlow Shapley about a century ago, that a period-luminosity relation governs all Cepheid variable stars. This is a good example for the inductive sceptic’s purposes, since it is difficult to see how the sparse background knowledge available at the time could have entitled stellar astronomers to regard their observations as justifying this grand inductive generalization. I shall argue that the observation reports that confirmed the Cepheid period- luminosity law were themselves ‘‘thick’’ with expectations regarding as yet unknown laws of nature. -
The Impact of Aenesidemus Upon Fichte and Schopenhauer
Richard Fincham 97 Pli 10 (2000), 96-126. subject from both object and subject and is referred to both".4 Fichte shows that although this may suffice as the first principle of theoretical knowledge, it cannot be the first principle of all philosophy.s Therefore, for Fichte, principles of theoretical knowledge can only be satisfactorily grounded upon the self qua reflective consciousness of Kantian and Reinholdian transcendental idealism once the existence of such reflective The Impact of Aenesidemus upon Fichte and consciousness is itself grounded upon an absolute foundation. It is of Schopenhauer course in response to this perceived requirement that Fichte constructs a system of transcendental idealism which asserts that the self itself conceived of as primordially an absolute self-reverting activity - should RICHARD FINCHAM be the absolute foundation of all philosophy. This article will show why it is that for Fichte, 'reflective consciousness', which for Kant was the ground of all explanation, becomes conceived of as itself requiring explanation. It will be argued Fichte's reconfiguration of Kantian transcendental idealism is motivated that this is due to an engagement with a sceptical attack upon the by an engagement with two specific 'commentaries' upon it. Firstly, transcendental idealism of Kant and Reinhold named after (and Fichte was clearly convinced by Reinhold's complaint that the Critique's supposedly expounded by) the neo-Pyrrhonean sceptic Aenesidemus, principles can only "become universally binding"l by being grounded [I which was published anonymously in 1792, but was later revealed to be upon a universally valid and indubitable "self-explanatory,,2 foundation, the work of G. -
Michel De Montaigne and the Politics of Skepticism
CHAPTER FOUR MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE AND THE POLITICS OF SKEPTICISM When Henri Estienne and Gentian Hervet brought out Latin trans lations of the work of Sex tus Empiricus in 1562 and 1569, they fig uratively set off a bombshell of ideas that had been virtually for gotten by the learned world.1 Michel de Montaigne holds a crucial place in the history of skepticism in early modern Europe because he was one of the most influential members of the first generation to become reacquainted with the work of Sex tus Empiricus. The politics of this great Gascon writer of the sixteenth century was above all a politics of human fallibility. Again and again, Montaigne's observations and recommendations concerning govern ment and politics focus on the weaknesses and limitations of human beings. This vision of fallibility, in turn, is best understood as a development of key categories, strategies, and vocabulary of the ancient skeptics. If it can be established that Montaigne's politics of human fall ibility belongs in the tradition of skepticism, this will be an im portant corrective of recent work that casts his politics as largely Stoic or Epicurean. In addition, if it can be shown that Montaigne's politics of skepticism was neither wholly conservative nor glibly liberal, another set of common assumptions will be undermined. Fi nally, a careful analysis of Montaigne's work is significant in itself as an example of one of the forms that a skeptical politics can take. The ancient skepticism that had come down to Montaigne consist ed largely of the writings of Diogenes Laertius and Cicero, along with the new translations of Sextus Empiricus. -
Paul Feyerabend
Against Method Fourth Edition Paul Feyerabend VERSO London • New York Analytical Index Being a Sketch of the Main Argument Introdnction 1 Science is an essentially anarchic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives. 1 7 This is shown both by an examination of historical episodes and by an abstract analysis of the relation between idea and action. The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes. 2 13 For example, we may use hypotheses that contradict well-confirmed theories and/or well-established experimental results. We may advance science by proceeding counterinductively. 3 17 The consistency condition which demands that new hypotheses agree with accepted theories is unreasonable because it preserves the older theory, and not the better theory. Hypotheses contradicting well-confirmed theories give us evidence that cannot be obtained in any other way. Proliferation of theories is beneficial for science, while uniformity impairs its critical power. Uniformity also endangers the free development of the individual. 4 ~ There is no idea, however ancient and absurd, that is not capable of improving our knowledge. The whole history of thought is absorbed into science and is used for improving every single theory. Nor is political interference rejected. It may be needed to overcome the chauvinism of science that resists alternatives to the status quo. xxx ANAL YTICAL INDEX 5 33 No theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain, yet it is not always the theory that is to blame. Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof ofprogress. -
CURRICULUM VITAE January, 2018 DANIEL GARBER
CURRICULUM VITAE January, 2018 DANIEL GARBER Position: A. Watson Armour III University Professor of Philosophy Address: Department of Philosophy 1879 Hall Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544-1006 Address (September 2017-July 2018) Institut d’études avancées 17, quai d’Anjou 75004 Paris France Telephone: 609-258-4307 (voice) 609-258-1502 (FAX) 609-258-4289 (Departmental office) Email: [email protected] Erdös number: 16 EDUCATIONAL RECORD Harvard University, 1967-1975 A.B. in Philosophy, 197l A.M. in Philosophy, 1974 Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1975 TEACHING EXPERIENCE Princeton University 2002- Professor of Philosophy and Associated Faculty, Program in the History of Science 2005-12 Chair, Department of Philosophy 2008-09 Old Dominion Professor 2009- Associated Faculty, Department of Politics 2009-16 Stuart Professor of Philosophy Garber -2- 2016- A. Watson Armour III University Professor of Philosophy University of Chicago 1995-2002 Lawrence Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy, the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, the Morris Fishbein Center for Study of History of Science and Medicine and the College 1986-2002 Professor 1982-86 Associate Professor (with tenure) 1975-82 Assistant Professor 1998-2002 Chairman, Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science (formerly Conceptual Foundations of Science) 2001 Acting Chairman, Department of Philosophy 1995-98 Associate Provost for Education and Research 1994-95 Chairman, Conceptual Foundations of Science 1987-94 Chairman, Department of Philosophy Harvard College 1972-75 Teaching Assistant and Tutor University of Minnesota, Spring 1979, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy Johns Hopkins University, 1980-1981, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy Princeton University 1982-1983 Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1985-1986, Member École Normale Supérieure (Lettres) (Lyon, France), November 2000, Professeur invitée. -
Skeptical Impression Or Pyrrhonian Dogma?
Σ Χ Ο Λ Η ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ ТОМ 11 ВЫПУСК 1 2017 ΣΧΟΛΗ (Schole) ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ Главный редактор Е. В. Афонасин (Новосибирск) Ответственный секретарь А. С. Афонасина (Новосибирск) Редактор раздела рецензий и библиографии М. В. Егорочкин (Москва) Редакционная коллегия И. В. Берестов (Новосибирск) , П. А. Бутаков (Новосибирск), М. Н. Вольф (Новосибирск), Джон Диллон (Дублин), С. В. Месяц (Москва), Доминик O’Мара (Фрибург), Е. В. Орлов (Новосибирск), М. С. Петрова (Москва), Теун Тилеман (Утрехт), А. И. Щетников (Новосибирск) Редакционный совет С. С. Аванесов (Томск), Леонидас Баргелиотис (Афины–Олимпия), Люк Бриссон (Париж), Леван Гигинейшвили (Тбилиси), В. П. Горан (Новосибирск), В. С. Диев (Новосибирск), В. В. Целищев (Новосибирск), В. Б. Прозоров (Москва), С. П. Шевцов (Одесса) Учредители журнала Новосибирский государственный университет, Институт философии и права СО РАН Основан в марте 2007 г. Периодичность – два раза в год Адрес для корреспонденции Философский факультет НГУ, ул. Пирогова, 2, Новосибирск, 630090 Электронные адреса Статьи и переводы: [email protected] Рецензии и библиографические обзоры: [email protected] Адрес в сети Интернет : www.nsu.ru/classics/schole/ © Издательство «Аквилон», 2017 ISSN 1995-4328 (Print) © Центр изучения древней философии ISSN 1995-4336 (Online) и классической традиции, 2007–2017 Σ Χ Ο Λ Η ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 2017 ΣΧΟΛΗ (Schole) ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION Editor-in-Chief Eugene V. Afonasin (Novosibirsk) Executive Secretary Anna S. Afonasina (Novosibirsk) Reviews and Bibliography Michael V. Egorochkin (Moscow) Editorial Board Igor V. Berestov (Novosibirsk), Pavel A. Butakov (Novosibirsk), john Dillon (Dublin), Svetlana V. Mesyats (Moscow), Dominic O’Meara (Friburg), Eugene V. -
The Epistemology of Testimony
Pergamon Stud. His. Phil. Sci., Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 1-31, 1998 0 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0039-3681/98 $19.004-0.00 The Epistemology of Testimony Peter Lipton * 1. Introduction Is there anything you know entirely off your own bat? Your knowledge depends pervasively on the word of others. Knowledge of events before you were born or outside your immediate neighborhood are the obvious cases, but your epistemic dependence on testimony goes far deeper that this. Mundane beliefs-such as that the earth is round or that you think with your brain-almost invariably depend on testimony, and even quite personal facts-such as your birthday or the identity of your biological parents--can only be known with the help of others. Science is no refuge from the ubiquity of testimony. At least most of the theories that a scientist accepts, she accepts because of what others say. The same goes for almost all the data, since she didn’t perform those experiments herself. Even in those experiments she did perform, she relied on testimony hand over fist: just think of all those labels on the chemicals. Even her personal observations may have depended on testimony, if observation is theory-laden, since those theories with which it is laden were themselves accepted on testimony. Even if observation were not theory-laden, the testimony-ladenness of knowledge should be beyond dispute. We live in a sea of assertions and little if any of our knowledge would exist without it. If the role of testimony in knowledge is so vast, why is its role in the history of epistemology so slight? Why doesn’t the philosophical canon sparkle with titles such as Meditations on Testimony, A Treatise Concerning Human Testimony, and Language, Truth and Testimony? The answer is unclear. -
HISTORIA SCEPTYCYZMU Monografie Fundacji Na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej
HISTORIA SCEPTYCYZMU monografie fundacji na rzecz nauki polskiej rada wydawnicza prof. Tomasz Kizwalter, prof. Janusz Sławiński, prof. Antoni Ziemba, prof. Marek Ziółkowski, prof. Szymon Wróbel fundacja na rzecz nauki polskiej Renata Ziemińska HISTORIA SCEPTYCYZMU W POSZUKIWANIU SPÓJNOŚCI toruń 2013 Wydanie książki subwencjonowane przez Fundację na rzecz Nauki Polskiej w ramach programu Monografie FNP Redaktor tomu Anna Mądry Korekty Ewelina Gajewska Projekt okładki i obwoluty Barbara Kaczmarek Printed in Poland © Copyright by Renata Ziemińska and Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika Toruń 2013 ISBN 978-83-231-2949-3 WYDAWNICTWO NAUKOWE UNIWERSYTETU MIKOŁAJA KOPERNIKA Redakcja: ul. Gagarina 5, 87-100 Toruń tel. +48 56 611 42 95, fax +48 56 611 47 05 e-mail: [email protected] Dystrybucja: ul. Reja 25, 87-100 Toruń tel./fax: +48 56 611 42 38, e-mail: [email protected] www.wydawnictwoumk.pl Wydanie pierwsze Druk i oprawa: Abedik Sp. z o.o. ul. Glinki 84, 85-861 Bydgoszcz Spis treści wstęp ......................................................................................................... 9 część i. pojęcie i rodzaje sceptycyzmu rozdział 1. genealogia terminu „sceptycyzm” ........................... 15 rozdział 2. ewolucja pojęcia sceptycyzmu .................................. 21 Starożytny sceptycyzm jako zawieszenie sądów pretendujących do prawdy .......................................................................................... 21 Średniowieczny sceptycyzm jako uznanie słabości ludzkich sądów wobec Bożej wszechmocy -
The Idea of a Religious Social Science
The Idea Of A Religious Social Science Professor Khosrow Bagheri Noaparast University of Tehran Distributed by Alhoda International Publication and Distribution No 766 Vali-e-Asr Ave. Tehran, Iran Tel: 0098 21 88897661 www.alhoda.ir email: [email protected] Copywright 2009 by Alhoda All rights reserved First edition 2009 ISBN 978-964-439-064-7 2 Contents Preface Chapter 1: Science: Positivist and Post-positivist Views Introduction 1.1. Positivist Account of Science 1.2. Post-positivist Challenges 1.2.1. Integration of Science and Metaphysics 1.2.2. Extent of Metaphysics’ Impact on Science 1.2.3. Integration of Theory and Observation 1.2.4. Integration of Fact and Value 1.2.5. Non-linear Progress of Science 1.2.6. Impact of Science on Metaphysics Chapter 2: Religion 2.1. Encyclopedic Theory of Religion 2.2. Functional Theory of Religion 2.3. Theory of Selectivity of Religion 2.3.1. Distinctive Nature of Religious Knowledge 2.3.2. Characteristics of Religion and Religious Knowledge Chapter 3: Meaninglessness and Meaningfulness in Religious Science Introduction 3.1. Epistemological Monism and Religious Science 3.1.1. Logical Positivism: Meaninglessness of Religious Science 3.1.2. The Significance of Positivists’ View 3.1.3. Pragmatism: Meaninglessness of Religious Science 3.1.4. The Significance of Pragmatists’ View 3.2. Pluralism and Religious Science 3.2.1. Contrastive Pluralism: Meaninglessness of Religious Science 3.2.2. Significance of Contrastive Pluralism 3.2.3 Overlap Pluralism: Meaningfulness of Religious Science Chapter 4: True and False in Religious Science Introduction 4.1. The Inferential Approach and its Critique 4.1.1. -
Early Pyrrhonism As a Sect of Buddhism? a Case Study in the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy
Comparative Philosophy Volume 9, No. 2 (2018): 1-40 Open Access / ISSN 2151-6014 / www.comparativephilosophy.org https://doi.org/10.31979/2151-6014(2018).090204 EARLY PYRRHONISM AS A SECT OF BUDDHISM? A CASE STUDY IN THE METHODOLOGY OF COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY MONTE RANSOME JOHNSON & BRETT SHULTS ABSTRACT: We offer a sceptical examination of a thesis recently advanced in a monograph published by Princeton University Press entitled Greek Buddha: Pyrrho’s Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia. In this dense and probing work, Christopher I. Beckwith, a professor of Central Eurasian studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, argues that Pyrrho of Elis adopted a form of early Buddhism during his years in Bactria and Gandhāra, and that early Pyrrhonism must be understood as a sect of early Buddhism. In making his case Beckwith claims that virtually all scholars of Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy have been operating under flawed assumptions and with flawed methodologies, and so have failed to notice obvious and undeniable correspondences between the philosophical views of the Buddha and of Pyrrho. In this study we take Beckwith’s proposal and challenge seriously, and we examine his textual basis and techniques of translation, his methods of examining passages, his construal of problems and his reconstruction of arguments. We find that his presuppositions are contentious and doubtful, his own methods are extremely flawed, and that he draws unreasonable conclusions. Although the result of our study is almost entirely negative, we think it illustrates some important general points about the methodology of comparative philosophy. Keywords: adiaphora, anātman, anattā, ataraxia, Buddha, Buddhism, Democritus, Pāli, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonism, Scepticism, trilakṣaṇa 1. -
The Influence of Pyrrho of Elis and the Pyrrhonian Praxis of Aporetic
The Influence of Pyrrho of Elis and the Pyrrhonian Praxis of Aporetic Language by © Christopher Craig Dupuis A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy Memorial University of Newfoundland May, 2014 St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador 2 Table of Contents Abstract 4 Introduction and Overview 5 Chapter One 1 Pyrrho’s Aporetic Linguistic Praxis 12 1.1 Ataraxia in Epictetus and Epicurus 21 1.2 The Role of Epoche and Ataraxia in Pyrrho 23 1.3 Plato’s Socrates as Pyrrho’s Sage 43 1.4 Pyrrho and Plato’s Phaedo 45 1.5 Pyrrho, the Meno, and The Soul of The Hellenes 48 1.6 Appearances, Customs, and The Soul of the Sceptic 51 1.7 Pyrrho and Plato’s Theaetetus 55 1.8 Chapter One Conclusion 62 Chapter Two 2.1 Introduction: Academic Scepticism 64 2.2 Scepticism up to this Point 65 2.3 Arcesilaus And the Early Academic Sceptics 68 2.4 Carneades And the ‘New’ Academic Sceptics 81 2.5 Connecting with Pyrrho 91 Chapter Three 3.1 Introduction: Later Pyrrhonian Scepticism 95 3.2 Aenesidemus and the Revival of Pyrrhonism 97 3.3 Aenesidemus, Relativity, and Language Practice 107 3.4 Later Pyrrhonism: Sextus Empiricus 112 3.5 Outline of Sextus 118 3.6 Phantasiai 119 3.7 Apprehension 122 3.8 What the Sceptics Do 125 3.9 Ataraxia and Epoche 128 3.10 The Five Ways to Epoche 133 3 3.10.1 The First Trope: Diaphonia 136 3.10.2 The Second Trope: Infinite Regression 138 3.10.3 The Third Trope: Relativity 139 3.10.4 The Fourth -
Agrippan Pyrrhonism and the Challenge of Disagreement
Journal of Philosophical Research Volume 40 2015 pp. 23–39 AGRIPPAN PYRRHONISM AND THE CHALLENGE OF DISAGREEMENT DIEGO E. MACHUCA CONICET ABSTRACT: This paper argues for the following three claims. First, the Agrippan mode from disagreement does not play a secondary role in inducing suspension of judgment. Second, the Pyrrhonist is not committed to the criteria of justification underlying the Five Modes of Agrippa, which nonetheless does not prevent him from non-doxastically assenting to them. And third, some recent objec- tions to Agrippan Pyrrhonism raised by analytic epistemologists and experimental philosophers fail to appreciate the Pyrrhonist’s ad hominem style of argumentation and the real challenge posed by the mode from disagreement. I. INTRODUCTION The subject of this essay is the set of arguments known as the Five Modes of Agrippa, which are the most powerful weapons of the Pyrrhonian argumentative arsenal found in Sextus Empiricus’s extant works. My purpose is to offer an interpretation both of certain aspects of the challenge posed by these modes and of the Pyrrhonist’s attitude towards them. More precisely, I propose to show: (i) that the mode from disagreement does not play a secondary role in inducing suspension of judgment; (ii) that the Pyrrhonist is not committed to the criteria of justification underlying the Agrippan modes, which nonethe- less does not prevent him from assenting to them in a weak, non-doxastic way; and (iii) that some recent objections to Agrippan Pyrrhonism raised by analytic epistemologists and experimental philosophers fail to appreciate the Pyrrhonist’s ad hominem style of argumentation and the real challenge posed by the mode from disagreement.