Sceptical Doubt and Disbelief in Modern European Thought : A New Pan-American Dialogue

This volume examines modern scepticism in all main philosophical areas: epistemology, science, metaphysics, morals, and religion. It features sixteen essays that explore its importance for modern thought. The contributions present diverse, mutually enriching interpretations of key thinkers, from Montaigne to Nietzsche. The book includes a look both at the relationship between Montaigne and Pascal and at Montaigne’s criticism of religious rationalism. It turns its attention to an investigation into the links between ancient scepticism and Bacon’s Doctrine of the Idols, as well as into the ancient problem of the criterion in Cartesian philosophy. Next, three essays focus on more general topics, like modern sceptical disturbances, clandestine literature and irreligion. Two essays investigate the role of scepticism in Bayle’s moral thinking and his theory of religious toleration. Hume’s sceptical philosophy is the subject of two papers by distinguished scholars. In addition, many contributors address the presence of scepticism in Kant and in the German Idealism, such as the role of Schulze's scepticism in the works of the young Hegel. The book closes with a paper on Nietzsche and scepticism, and an essay on the role of Popkin’s and Schmitt’s works on modern scepticism. This collection continues along a rich, fruitful path opened by Richard H. Popkin and pursued by many important scholars, like Gianni Paganini, John-Christian Laursen, and José Raimundo Maia Neto. It re-establishes that necessary dialogue between researchers of scepticism from all over the Americas, which began with Popkin, Oswaldo Porchat and Ezequiel de Olaso long ago. This insightful reflection on modern European scepticism will also serve as an important resource in the history of modern philosophy. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Bibliographical References Chapter 2: “What a Foolish Project He Had to Paint His Own Portrait!”: The Influence of Montaigne’s “Straightforward Pyrrhonism” in the Rise of Pascal’s Self 2.1 Blaise Pascal, Reader of Michel de Montaigne 2.2 Pascal, Critic of Montaigne and Descartes 2.3 Essaying the Self: From Montaigne to Pascal 2.4 Conclusion Bibliographical References Chapter 3: On the Possibility of Knowledge: Skeptical Arguments and Baconian Idols 3.1 Bacon and Skepticism 3.2 What Bacon Meant by “Skepticism” 3.3 Skepticism as a Tool Against the Philosophical Tradition 3.4 From a Similar Starting Point to an Opposition in the End 3.5 Beyond Opposition: From Rejection of Dogmatism to Refusal of Tradition 3.6 Probability About Facts and Provisional Hypothesis Bibliographical References Chapter 4: Augustine’s and Montaigne’s Deployments of Skepticism Against Religious Rationalism 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Augustine: From Manicheanism Through Academic Skepticism to Catholicism 4.3 Montaigne’s Radicalization of Augustine’s Strategy 4.4 Conclusion References Chapter 5: Descartes and the Problem of the Criterion 5.1 Differences and Similarities Between Descartes and Ancient Skeptics 5.2 The Cartesian Solution Bibliographical References Chapter 6: Modern Skeptical Disturbances and their Remedies 6.1 The Practical Burden of Doubt: Cartesian Irresolution 6.2 The Wretchedness of Human Condition: Pascal’s Original Sin and his Leap of Faith 6.3 “Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium”: Hume’s Return to Natural Belief and Common Life 6.4 Modern Skeptical Disturbances and Marquard’s Historical Diagnosis 6.5 Montaigne’s Acceptance of Human Inconstancy and Finitude References Chapter 7: Skepticism and Clandestine Literature: Doutes des Pyrrhoniens 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Manuscript 7.3 The Origin and Function of Religion 7.4 “Furious” and “Moderate” Pyrrhonism 7.5 Conclusion References Chapter 8: Doubt, Disbelief, and Irreligion: From Montaigne’s Skepticism to Meslier’s Atheism 8.1 The Evolution of Skepticism 8.2 Montaigne, Between Discordance and Insinuation 8.3 Meslier, a Pyromaniacal Reader 8.4 Incredulous Premises, Irreligious Conclusions 8.5 Historiography, Skepticism, and Clandestine Literature Bibliographical References Chapter 9: Reading Bayle, Again: A Survey of the Interpretive Landscape and A Defense of the Academic-Moral Knowledge Reading 9.1 The Challenge of Reading Bayle 9.2 The Proto-Enlightenment reading, the Labroussean reading, and American responses 9.3 The Subversive Atheist Reading Redux 9.4 The Question of Skepticism 9.5 Maia Neto and Lennon on Bayle as an Academic Reporter 9.6 Exceptions to Bayle’s Academic Skepticism 9.7 Conclusion Bibliographical References Chapter 10: The Role of Skepticism in Bayle’s Theory of Toleration 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Bayle and Locke on Toleration: Similarities and Differences 10.3 Pierre Bayle and the Moral Variation of the Secular Opening to Toleration 10.4 John Locke and the Political Variation of the Secular Opening 10.5 The Role of Skepticism in Bayle’s Theory of Toleration and the Persecutor Paradox Bibliographical References Chapter 11: Hume’s Teresic Politics 11.1 How Can Politics Be Skeptical at All? 11.2 Political Isosthenia 11.3 Defusing Faction 11.4 Teresic Politics of Common Life’s Pre-Conceptions Bibliographical References Chapter 12: “True Religion” and Hume’s Practical Atheism 12.1 Two Old Atheists – Spinoza & D’Holbach 12.2 Hume and Spinoza’s True Religion 12.3 Hume and D’Holbach’s Militant Atheism 12.4 Subduing Religion: Hume’s Modest Pessimism 12.5 Hume and the “New Atheism” (the Contemporary Debate) 12.6 Good Reasoners or Good Citizens? Bibliographical References Chapter 13: The Critical Target of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Humean Skepticism or Spinozistic Naturalism? 13.1 The Humean Approach 13.2 The Spinozistic Approach: Jonathan Israel’s Case 13.3 The Spinozistic Approach: Omri Boehm’s Case 13.4 The Problem of the A Preface 13.5 The Garve Problem Bibliographical References Chapter 14: Disciplining Skepticism through Kant’s Critique, Fichte’s Idealism, and Hegel’s Negations 14.1 Kant and Skepticism: An Overview 14.2 Skepticism in the Critique of Pure Reason from Zeno to Hume 14.3 Fichte’s Response and Schulzean Skepticism 14.4 Hegel’s Synthesis and Schulze Again Bibliographical References Chapter 15: Skepticism and Negation in the Young Hegel: Schulze, Fichte and Nihilism Bibliographical References Chapter 16: Nietzsche: Experimental Skepticism and the Question of Values 16.1 State of the Field 16.2 Human, All Too Human and Beyond Good and Evil 16.3 Fundamental Truths and Errors 16.4 “The Skepticism of Experiments” 16.5 Skeptics and Scholars Bibliographical References Chapter 17: The Missing End of the Threefold Cord in the Transmission of Ancient Skepticism into Modernity: The Lives by Diogenes Laertius 17.1 The Threefold Cord in the Transmission of Skepticism 17.1.1 The First Strand: Schmitt on Cicero’s Academica 17.1.2 The Second Strand: Popkin on Sextus’s Outlines 17.1.3 Braiding the Two Strands 17.2 The Missing Strand: Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of Eminent Philosophers 17.2.1 Filling the Lacuna: The History of the Manuscripts of the Lives 17.2.2 “Life of Pyrrho” in Diogenes Laertius’s Lives 17.2.3 Diogenes’s Version of Pyrrhonism: Some Philosophical Advantages 17.3 Conclusion Bibliographical References Bibliography Name Index Subject Index "This volume examines modern scepticism in all main philosophical areas: epistemology, science, metaphysics, morals, and religion. It features sixteen essays that explore its importance for modern thought. The contributions present diverse, mutually enriching interpretations of key thinkers, from Montaigne to Nietzsche.The book includes a look both at the relationship between Montaigne and Pascal and at Montaigne's criticism of religious rationalism. It turns its attention to an investigation into the links between ancient scepticism and Bacon's Doctrine of the Idols, as well as into the ancient problem of the criterion in Cartesian philosophy. Next, three essays focus on more general topics, like modern sceptical disturbances, clandestine literature and irreligion. Two essays investigate the role of scepticism in Bayle's moral thinking and his theory of religious toleration. Hume's sceptical philosophy is the subject of two papers by distinguished scholars. In addition, many contributors address the presence of scepticism in Kant and in the German Idealism, such as the role of Schulze's scepticism in the works of the young Hegel. The book closes with a paper on Nietzsche and scepticism, and an essay on the role of Popkin's and Schmitt's works on modern scepticism.This collection continues along a rich, fruitful path opened by Richard H. Popkin and pursued by many important scholars, like Gianni Paganini, John-Christian Laursen, and José Raimundo Maia Neto. It re-establishes that necessary dialogue between researchers of scepticism from all over the Americas, which began with Popkin, Oswaldo Porchat and Ezequiel de Olaso long ago. This insightful reflection on modern European scepticism will also serve as an important resource in the history of modern philosophy." -- Provided by the publisher