On Intellectual Skepticism: a Selection of Skeptical Arguments and Tosi's Criticisms, with Some Comparative Notes
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Questioning Divination: the Young Augustine and Friends Divination Is Not an Art One Ordinarily Associates with Augustine Of
Questioning divination: the young Augustine and friends Divination is not an art one ordinarily associates with Augustine of Hippo. His preaching, like that of any other late antique bishop, decisively rejected all forms of magic, and he offered detailed critiques of astrology across many works (e.g., City of God 5). However, Augustine is also an author who gives exceptional—if incomplete—insight into times in his life where he thought differently (see esp. O’Loughlin 1992). In his Confessions and the early dialogue Against the Academics, Augustine paints a series of portraits, of himself but also of lofty and learned associates, who questioned the practical limits of divinatory power. The aim of this paper is to trace out the social context of Augustine’s early and growing skepticism towards divination. The first of the learned men, and the most studied, is the learned Vindicianus, proconsul and sometime court-physician for Valentinian I (Fiorucci 2008). Augustine, who had rejected the help of a haruspex in a poetry contest, did take up astrology. After crowning him the victor, Vindicianus tried to dissuade him, pointing to his own experiences as a young man who had once prepared to become a professional astrologer (Confessions 4.2.3-3.5). Of his reasoning, we hear comparatively little, though Augustine elsewhere lauds him for his medical expertise, whose methods he was able rationally to explain to those who had assumed them sorcerous (Ep. 138.3). The next example is more richly documented. In Contra Academicos 1.6.17-8.23, Augustine’s student Licentius describes a series of divinatory feats performed by Albicerius, a hariolus from Carthage. -
Views Condemned and His Writings Publicly Burnt in 1347, Just Seven Years After Buridan’S Second Term As Rector of the University 1
JACK ZUPKO BURIDAN AND AUTRÉCOURT: A REAPPRAISAL A liTTle over a decade ago, I published a paper ThaT Tried To un - ravel The puzzling relaTionship beTween John Buridan, The mosT fa - mous Parisian arTs masTer of The fourTeenTh cenTury, and Nicholas of AuTrecourT, The Paris-based bête noir of laTe-medieval ArisToTe - lianism, who achieved his own measure of fame for having had some of his views condemned and his wriTings publicly burnT in 1347, jusT seven years afTer Buridan’s second Term as recTor of The UniversiTy 1. The problem is ThaT, wiThouT ever menTioning him by name, Buridan in several places criTicizes views ThaT look very much like The condemned Teachings of Nicholas. Was he TaciTly providing inTellecTual grounds for The condemnaTion, The official arTicles of which menTion only Nicholas’ erroneous Teachings? This quesTion is of greaT inTeresT To hisTorians of medieval philo - sophy since iT would show ThaT There was more Than jusT The heavy hand of auThoriTy behind The silencing of The masTer from Lorrai - ne. Modern minds are primed To read such incidenTs as exercises of poliTical power, of course, in which The freedoms of individual Thinkers are Trampled in order To preserve some auThoriTarian regi - me – in This case The Church and To a lesser exTenT The UniversiTy of Paris. BuT scholars of The period know ThaT The sTory is much more complicaTed Than This. I immediaTely ran inTo The problem, however, on which efforTs To answer This quesTion have always foundered: we do noT have enough of Nicholas’ work To reconsTrucT his philosophical or Theo - logical sysTem wiTh any cerTainTy. -
Skepticism and Pluralism Ways of Living a Life Of
SKEPTICISM AND PLURALISM WAYS OF LIVING A LIFE OF AWARENESS AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ZHUANGZI #±r A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY AUGUST 2004 By John Trowbridge Dissertation Committee: Roger T. Ames, Chairperson Tamara Albertini Chung-ying Cheng James E. Tiles David R. McCraw © Copyright 2004 by John Trowbridge iii Dedicated to my wife, Jill iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completing this research, I would like to express my appreciation first and foremost to my wife, Jill, and our three children, James, Holly, and Henry for their support during this process. I would also like to express my gratitude to my entire dissertation committee for their insight and understanding ofthe topics at hand. Studying under Roger Ames has been a transformative experience. In particular, his commitment to taking the Chinese tradition on its own terms and avoiding the tendency among Western interpreters to overwrite traditional Chinese thought with the preoccupations ofWestern philosophy has enabled me to broaden my conception ofphilosophy itself. Roger's seminars on Confucianism and Daoism, and especially a seminar on writing a philosophical translation ofthe Zhongyong r:pJm (Achieving Equilibrium in the Everyday), have greatly influenced my own initial attempts to translate and interpret the seminal philosophical texts ofancient China. Tamara Albertini's expertise in ancient Greek philosophy was indispensable to this project, and a seminar I audited with her, comparing early Greek and ancient Chinese philosophy, was part ofthe inspiration for my choice ofresearch topic. I particularly valued the opportunity to study Daoism and the Yijing ~*~ with Chung-ying Cheng g\Gr:p~ and benefited greatly from his theory ofonto-cosmology as a means of understanding classical Chinese philosophy. -
Demystifying the Saint
DEMYSTIFYING THE SAINT: JAY L. GARFIELDʼS RATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF NĀGĀRJUNAʼS MĀDHYAMAKA AS THE EPITOME OF CONTEMPORARY CROSS-CULTURAL PHILOSOPHY TIINA ROSENQVIST Tampereen yliopisto Yhteiskunta- ja kulttuuritieteiden yksikkö Filosofian pro gradu -tutkielma Tammikuu 2011 ABSTRACT Cross-cultural philosophy approaches philosophical problems by setting into dialogue systems and perspectives from across cultures. I use the term more specifically to refer to the current stage in the history of comparative philosophy marked by the ethos of scholarly self-reflection and the production of rational reconstructions of foreign philosophies. These reconstructions lend a new kind of relevance to cross-cultural perspectives in mainstream philosophical discourses. I view Jay L. Garfieldʼs work as an example of this. I examine Garfieldʼs approach in the context of Nāgārjuna scholarship and cross-cultural hermeneutics. By situating it historically and discussing its background and implications, I wish to highlight its distinctive features. Even though Garfield has worked with Buddhist philosophy, I believe he has a lot to offer to the meta-level discussion of cross-cultural philosophy in general. I argue that the clarity of Garfieldʼs vision of the nature and function of cross-cultural philosophy can help alleviate the identity crisis that has plagued the enterprise: Garfield brings it closer to (mainstream) philosophy and helps it stand apart from Indology, Buddhology, area studies philosophy (etc). I side with Garfield in arguing that cross- cultural philosophy not only brings us better understanding of other philosophical traditions, but may enhance our self-understanding as well. I furthermore hold that his employment of Western conceptual frameworks (post-Wittgensteinian language philosophy, skepticism) and theoretical tools (paraconsistent logic, Wittgensteinian epistemology) together with the influence of Buddhist interpretative lineages creates a coherent, cogent, holistic and analytically precise reading of Nāgārjunaʼs Mādhyamaka philosophy. -
David Hume, "The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion," and Religious Tolerance
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Supervised Undergraduate Student Research Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects and Creative Work 5-2020 David Hume, "The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion," and Religious Tolerance Jarrett Delozier [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj Part of the History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religion Commons, Intellectual History Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Delozier, Jarrett, "David Hume, "The Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion," and Religious Tolerance" (2020). Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/2382 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Supervised Undergraduate Student Research and Creative Work at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DeLozier 1 Introduction In the history of philosophy of religion and natural theology, David Hume is an immensely influential contributor. One of his most important works in the field is his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, which contains his greatest treatment of natural theology, specifically the design argument. However, there’s a big problem which the Dialogues present to understanding Hume. Eleven of the twelve parts of the Dialogues contain Hume’s sharp criticisms and attacks on the Design argument. But in the final part, in what is often called “Philo’s Reversal,” he seems to completely reverse course by renouncing his skepticism and endorsing the Design argument. -
RJSSER ISSN 2707-9015 (ISSN-L) Research Journal of Social DOI: Sciences & Economics Review ______
Research Journal of Social Sciences & Economics Review Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2021 (January – March) ISSN 2707-9023 (online), ISSN 2707-9015 (Print) RJSSER ISSN 2707-9015 (ISSN-L) Research Journal of Social DOI: https://doi.org/10.36902/rjsser-vol2-iss1-2021(79-82) Sciences & Economics Review ____________________________________________________________________________________ Analytical Study of Pedagogical Practices of Abul Hasan Ashari (270 AH ...330 AH) * Dr. Hashmat Begum, Assistant Professor ** Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Ibrar Ullah, Assistant Professor (Corresponding Author) *** Dr. Samina Begum, Assistant Professor __________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Abu al Hasan al-Ashari is measured to be a great as well as famous scholar of theology. He competed with philosophers with the power of his knowledge. He was a famous religious scholar of the Abbasi period. During the heyday of Islam, two schools of thought became famous. One school of thought became famous as the Motazilies and the other discipline of thought became known as the Ash'arites. Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari remained a supporter of the Mu'tazilites for forty years. Then there was a disagreement with Mu'tazilah about the issue of value. Imam al-Ghazali is one of the leading preachers of his Ash'arite school of thought. Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari inherited a passion for collecting books. As a child, he used to collect books from his hobby. Sometimes there are very difficult places in the path of knowledge, only a real student can pass through these places safely. He has been remembered by the Islamic world in very high words. There was a student who drank the ocean of knowledge but his thirst was not quenched. -
Reading Questions for Phil 251.501, Spring 2012 (Daniel)
Reading Questions for Phil 251.501, Spring 2012 (Daniel) Class One: What is Philosophy? (Jan. 17) • How is philosophy different from mythology? • How is philosophy different from religion? • How is philosophy different from science? • What does it mean to say that the “love of wisdom” is concerned with the justification of opinions? • Why is giving reasons for your beliefs important regarding the main areas of philosophy (e.g., metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and logic)? Class Two: Philosophical Tools (Jan. 19) • What is “logical consistency”? Give some examples. • What is the difference between logical possibility and causal possibility? • What is the difference between lexical and real definitions? • What is the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions? • What are thought experiments? • In philosophy, what is an argument? • What is the difference between a deductive vs. and inductive argument? Class Three: Knowledge and Skepticism (Jan. 24) • What distinguishes propositional knowledge, “knowing how,” and “knowledge by acquaintance”? • How does Clifford’s insistence on having evidence highlight the moral significance of distinguishing belief and knowledge? • What are the three necessary conditions for knowledge? Give an example of a Gettier- case exception—that is, a case of meeting these conditions that is still not knowledge. • How are skepticism, empiricism, and rationalism different? • What is the difference between global and local skepticism? • What is Descartes’ method of doubt, and why does he adopt it? • For Descartes, why can’t we trust knowledge based on sense experience? • For Descartes, how are doubts raised by dreaming more profound than doubts about sensations? • How are the thought experiments of the evil demon, the brain in the vat, or the matrix even more profound than doubts about sense experience or dreaming? • How are skepticism, solipsism, and fallibilism possible responses to Descartes’ doubts? Class Four: Huemer on Skepticism (Jan. -
Forthcoming In: Episteme Why Disagreement-Based Skepticism
Forthcoming in: Episteme Why Disagreement-Based Skepticism Cannot Escape the Challenge of Self-Defeat Thomas Grundmann, University of Cologne penultimate version Abstract. Global meta-philosophical skepticism (i.e. completely unrestricted skepticism about philosophy) based upon disagreement faces the problem of self-defeat since it undercuts its motivating conciliatory principle. However, the skeptic may easily escape this threat by adopting a more modest kind of skepticism, that will be called “extensive meta-philosophical skepticism”, i.e., the view that most of our philosophical beliefs are unjustified, except our beliefs in epistemically fundamental principles. As I will argue in this paper, this kind of skepticism is well-motivated, does not undercut the conciliatory principle, but still poses a radical challenge to philosophy as a cognitive discipline. Moreover, I will argue that non-global skepticism that is still extensive undermines itself as well. The deeper reason for this is that this more modest kind of skepticism can only be motivated by the assumption that disagreement with philosophical peers is abundant and that we can identify peers only by relying on track-record arguments. But then one can argue for extensive meta-philosophical skepticism only if one presupposes that those philosophical beliefs that form the basis of track-record evaluations are justified. Here, the threat of self-defeat looms again. I will proceed by first defending the premises of this new anti- skeptical argument against standard objections from the literature. Second, I will show in more detail where the epistemic inconsistency arises in the argument for extensive meta-philosophical skepticism. I conclude with an assessment of the scope and the limits of my argument. -
IKHTILAF (DIFFERENCE) and TAFAHOM (MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING) in ISLAMIC FIQH (JURISPRUDENCE) CAUSES and ETHICAL REPONSES Mahmoud Abboud Al Harmoush
IKHTILAF (DIFFERENCE) AND TAFAHOM (MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING) IN ISLAMIC FIQH (JURISPRUDENCE) CAUSES AND ETHICAL REPONSES Mahmoud Abboud Al Harmoush Definitions of ikhtilaf and khilaf ccording to al Raghib al Isfahani’s Mufradat al Qur’an (Qur’anic Terms): “Ikhtilaf (difference) Aand mukhalafah (inconsistency/disagreement) are [terms which apply] when everyone follows a path that is different from the paths followed by everybody else in his situation or speech.” That is to say, they are applicable when there is no clash or discord, though when “ikhtilaf in speech” does occur between people it may entail a conflict, so the word can be applied if there is a dispute or a heated argument. Semantically, ikhtilaf does not convey the meaning of discord and strife. Rather, it describes the situations and mental attitudes of people who are not necessarily in conflict with each other; however, when a person is displeased as a result of a disagreement with another person for some reason or another, this ikhtilaf can become a cause of conflict. Professor of Usul and Fiqh Principles at al Jinan University in Tripoli (Lebanon). 71 IKHTILAF (DIFFERENCE) AND TAFAHOM (MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING) IN ISLAMIC FIQH (JURISPRUDENCE) Al Isfahani adds that “khilaf (also commonly translated in to English as “difference”) is a broader term than dhidd (opposite), because although when two opposites occur there is a ‘difference’, not every ‘difference’ is an ‘opposite’. Black and white are opposites and different, but red and green are different without being opposites.”1 Al Kafawi lists four differences between ikhtilaf and khilaf as follows: “1 – Ikhtilaf applies [in a situation] in which the paths are different, while the intention is that they should be one [and the same]. -
Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger
German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger Daniel Ferrer at Matrin Heidegger’s Todtnauberg haunt (Die Hütte, Rütte, Todtnauberg, Black Forest, Schwarzwald, Germany) By Daniel Fidel Ferrer 1 2011 Daniel Fidel Ferrer. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, digital, optical or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented; or otherwise without the prior permission in writing and signed by the author, Daniel Fidel Ferrer. Photo of Daniel Fidel Ferrer at Heidegger’s Todtnauberg haunt copyright ©Daniel Fidel Ferrer. Photo taken by Dr. Harald van Veghel with my 35 MM camera. Location: front page, title page. Die Hütte, Rütte, Todtnauberg, Black Forest, Schwarzwald, Germany, Deutschland. Some brief cataloging. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel (1952- ) German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger Includes bibliographical references. Index. 1. Ontology. 2. Metaphysics. 3. Philosophy, German. 4.Thought and thinking. 5. Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804. 6. Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-1854. 7. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831. 8. Philosphy, Asian. 9. Philosophy, Indic. 10. Philosophy, Modern -- 20th century. 11. Philosophy, Modern -- 19th century. 12. Practice (Philosophy). 13. Philosophy and civilization. 14. Postmodernism. 15. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900. 16. Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976. -- 17. g r una nd cent. I. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel, 1952-. Dedication and Acknowledgements Family members. Families: Ferrer, Reavis, Kuhn, Lindstrom, Schmidt, and Yeager. -
“Forms of Philosophical Skepticism”
“Forms of Philosophical Skepticism” James Conant Handout of Quotations, Examples, and Other Things I. Russell and the Nomads 1. Bertrand Russell’s Table Any statement as to what it is that our immediate experiences make us know is very likely to be wrong. It seems to me that I am now sitting in a chair, at a table of a certain shape, on which I see sheets of paper with writing or print…. All this seems to be so evident as to be hardly worth stating, except in answer to a man who doubts whether I know anything. Yet all this may be reasonably doubted, and all of it requires much careful discussion before we can be sure that we have stated it in a form that is wholly true. To make our difficulties plain, let us concentrate attention on the table. To the eye it is oblong, brown and shiny, to the touch it is smooth and cool and hard; when I tap it, it gives out a wooden sound…. [Then Russell proceeds to consider each of these qualities of the table.] The shape of the table is no better. … [T]he 'real' shape is not what we see; it is something inferred from what we see. And what we see is constantly changing in shape as we, move about the room; so that here again the senses seem not to give us the truth about the table itself, but only about the appearance of the table. … Thus it becomes evident that the real table, if there is one, is not the same as what we immediately experience by sight or touch or hearing. -
Summary %E History of Skepticism
Summary %e History of Skepticism. In Search of Consistency e book is devoted to the reconstruction of the history of the idea of philosophical skepticism from ancient to present time. It is also an attempt to present the recent state of research in the 'eld of both history of philosophical skepticism (recent interpretations) and epistemology of skepticism (recent discussions and opinions). e thesis of the book is that the basic problem for the skeptical position throughout history is the problem of inconsistency (self-refutation). Since antiquity skeptics were forced to answer to this charge, they invented many ways to avoid it. But the result was either not e0ective or too costly. Sextus Empiricus took his own words as the description of his feelings without any assertion. However, his skepticism is not a thesis at all and it cannot be accepted as true. Hume weakened the assertion for all beliefs and for his skeptical thesis. Such view in contemporary vocabulary is fallibilism rather than skepticism. In contemporary philosophy the skeptical thesis No one ever knows anything about anything or No one is ever justi(ed in believing anything is treated as a clear paradox. e main result of the book is the thesis that skeptical inconsistency is a pragmatic inconsistency. It is not a logical inconsistency, because there is no clear contradiction here. Pragmatic inconsistency is also a contradiction between two propositions, but only one of them is overtly stated; the second is tacitly presupposed in the act of assertion of the skeptical thesis. When skeptics assert No one ever knows anything about anything they presuppose that they have some reasonable ground for such assertion.