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| Unit name |
The History of Philosophical Scepticism from Pyrrho to Derrida |
| Unit code |
PHIL10019 |
| Credit points |
10 |
| Level of study |
C/4
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Emeritus Professor. Pyle |
| Open unit status |
Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department |
Department of Philosophy |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This course - part philosophy, part history of ideas - will trace the history of philosophical scepticism. After surveying the birth of scepticism in the Academics and Pyrrhonians of Ancient Greece, we will consider the origins of its renaissance in the sixteenth century after a lull of nearly 1500 years. The most important thinker in this revival was Descartes, and we will consider his great sceptical challenge and his proposed solution, as well as the alternative, idealist solution offered by Berkeley. We will meet the two great philosophers of the Enlightenment: Hume, with his brilliant and novel sceptical arguments; and Kant, with his monumental response to Hume's conclusions. In the final three lectures, we will consider the fate of scepticism in the twentieth century: first, the wide-ranging scepticism of Foucault's and Derrida's postmodernism; second, Wittgenstein's linguistic solution to the sceptical problem; and third, the new empiricism of Ayer and Quine.
Aims:
- To give a sense of how the arguments and theses of some of philosophys great thinkers fit into the single historical narrative of scepticism
- To show how these theses were shaped by their time; but also how they shaped their time.
- To gain a fresh perspective on current philosophical doctrines, assumptions, and orthodoxies by considering them as the culmination of an historical process.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- To give a sense of how the arguments and theses of some of philosophys great thinkers fit into the single historical narrative of scepticism
- To show how these theses were shaped by their time; but also how they shaped their time.
- To gain a fresh perspective on current philosophical doctrines, assumptions, and orthodoxies by considering them as the culmination of an historical process.
Teaching Information
Lectures
Assessment Information
One essay on a topic picked from a list given by the lecturer.
Reading and References
- Skepticism: An Anthology (eds.) Richard H. Popkin and Jos� R. Maia Neto (New York: Prometheus Books) 2007
- The Modes of Scepticism Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 1985
- The History of Scepticism: from Savonarola to Bayle Richard Popkin (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 2003
- The Rationalists John Cottingham (Oxford : Oxford University Press) 1988
- Learning from Six Philosophers: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume Jonathan Bennett (Oxford: Clarendon Press) 2001
- Entry on Immanuel Kant by Paul Guyer, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed.) Edward Craig (London; New York: Routledge) 1998.
