Responses to Skepticism
Local / Global Skepticism
- Moore's Argument: "Here is one hand."
- Semantic Externalism
- David Chalmers' reply
- Contextualist Responses
Believing there is no knowledge of anything at all is global skepticism.
Believing that there's no knowledge of a particular thing or things - that's local skepticism.
Hume is a good example: he denigrates induction.
Historical Roots
Academic Skepticism
-Pyrrho of Elis (365–275 BC) is usually credited with founding the "school" of skepticism.
-Ajñana
-Chinese philosophy
"The Happiness of Fish" and "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly"
Conclusions
Global Skeptical Arguments
- Skepticism is the process of applying reason and critical thinking to determine validity.
- Skeptics apply critical thinking to different aspects of their lives in their own individual way.
- Skepticism is, or should be, an extraordinarily powerful and positive influence on the world.
- The scientific method is central to skepticism. The scientific method is about the study and evaluation of evidence, preferably derived from validated testing.
- Skepticism is an essential, and meaningful, component of the search for truth.
Skepticism
-René Descartes
-Hilary Putnam
Presented By:
Anannya Uberoi (2015014)
Varshita Gupta (2015187)
Suril Mehta (2015104)
Shubham Sinha (2013159)
An Introduction
Pyrrhonian Skepticism
- Derived from the Greek word skeptikos meaning"inquiring, reflective".
- Can we be sure?