Epistemology After Sextus Empiricus

0
0

Sextus Empiricus was the voice of ancient Greek skepticism for posterity. His writings contain the most subtle and detailed versions of the ancient skeptical arguments known as Pyrrhonism, adding up to a distinctive philosophical approach. Instead of viewing philosophy as valuable because of the answers it gives to important questions, Sextus considered the search for answers itself to be fundamental and offered a philosophy centered on inquiry. Assuming the point of view of an active inquirer, Sextus developed arguments concerning conflicting appearances, infinite regress in argument, dogmatic assertion of premises that are insufficiently justified, and many other ideas that fascinated later philosophers of knowledge across the centuries. He provided a unique perspective on topics of enduring relevance such as perception, language, logical consequence, belief, ignorance, disagreement, and induction.While Sextus's importance to epistemology was appreciated by early modern and modern philosophers, he is underrepresented in contemporary discussions. In order to put Sextus back in the center of epistemology, these essays discuss his influence in the history of modern philosophy as well as contemporary engagements with Sextus's version of Pyrrhonian skepticism. The contributors investigate epistemology after Sextus, addressing four core themes of Sextus's skepticism: appearances and perception, the structure of justification and proof, belief and ignorance, and ethics and action. The arguments presented here bridge the divide between contemporary and ancient debates about knowledge and skepticism and will appeal to philosophers interested in epistemology and philosophy of mind as well as those interested in ancient philosophy and the history of philosophy more generally.

Page Count:
347

|

Publication Date:
2019-01-01

Epistemology

Social sciences

Philosophy

History & Surveys

Mind & Body

Community Tags

Similar Books

Defensible Space; Crime Prevention Through Urban Design.
Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography, 1902-1976
Intellect: Mind over Matter
Angel Dusted: A Family's Nightmare
QSI Henry Holt Production Demo: QSI EDI Title Testing
Little people in America: The social dimension of dwarfism
Watts and Woodstock: Identity and Culture in the United States and South Africa (CBS Computer Books)
Handbook of Social Science Methods (v. 3)
The Egalitarian city: Issues of rights, distribution, access, and power
Growing Up With Children: An Introduction to Working With Young Children
With charity for all: Welfare and society, ancient times to the present
Environment and population;: Problems and solutions
Women's worlds: From the new scholarship
Little People in America
A Stranger in My House: Jews and Arabs in the West Bank