Scepticism and the Possibility of Knowledge

✍ Scribed by A. C. Grayling

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 225
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Scepticism as a philosophical term is as old as the Greeks but has more recently been advanced by Montaigne, Descartes and Hume. To these, what little we know that seems certain is based on observation and habit as opposed to any logical or scientific necessity. Thus, sceptical views relate directly to epistemology—the theory of knowledge and what we can know—and, in the modern turbulent world, it is grayling's contention that these are issues that all contemporary people need to focus on. In seeking understanding of the human condition we need more than just a set of beliefs about it: all belief is irrational. We want to know or garner some kind of proof about the fundamental truths of human existence. This is the crux of the dilemma facing intelligent people today and is illuminated by this book.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 16
Part I: Cartesian Responses......Page 18
1 Berkeley’s Argument for Immaterialism......Page 20
2 Russell, Experience and the Roots of Science......Page 58
3 Russell’s Transcendental Argument in An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry......Page 100
Part II: Two Varieties of Naturalism......Page 128
4 Wittgenstein on Scepticism and Certainty......Page 130
5 Naturalistic Assumptions: Quine......Page 162
Part III: Scepticism and Justification......Page 186
6 Scepticism and Justification......Page 188
D......Page 222
K......Page 223
Q......Page 224
W......Page 225