Philosophy Department

Responding to Skepticism (PHLU 3252)

Bryan Frances
 

In epistemology, the crazy old uncle in the attic is the skeptic, who is constantly whispering in our ears, “You can’t know that you have hands or just about anything else, because for all you know your whole life might be a dream.” Very few philosophers are skeptics. Even so, most contemporary epistemologists think that the skeptic’s reasoning includes no obvious mistake, and that by investigating her reasoning we discover important truths about the nature of knowledge and justification. I.e., either the skeptic is right, so you’re doomed to be a know-nothing loser all your life, or she’s wrong for such-and-such very subtle reason—a reason that shows something absolutely fundamental about knowledge or justification. The course will investigate both skepticism and contemporary responses to skepticism to gather these fundamental insights about the nature of knowledge.