In this first lecture, James Conant introduces the epistemological problem of skepticism as it occurs within the traditional Cartesian framework. He focuses mainly on perception (external world skepticism) and the skeptical problem of other minds, but later goes on to to discuss other areas, including skepticism about meaning in the philosophy of language and the problem of intentional action.
In this series of lectures on varieties of philosophical skepticism, James Conant distinguishes between two forms of philosophical skepticism: Cartesian skepticism and Kantian skepticism. He discusses their general structure and shows how they're related. This sheds light on issues in various different areas, including within the philosophy of perception, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Some of the philosophers discussed throughout this course include Wittgenstein, Sellars, Hilary Putnam, Kripke, C.I. Lewis, John McDowell, and Stanley Cavell.
This series of lectures was given in 2005 at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bergen, Norway. Note, the audio has been slightly edited and improved.
"There are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep." Descartes
"The a priori conditions of a possible experience in general are at the same time conditions of the possibility of objects of experience. Now I maintain that the categories ... are nothing but the conditions of thought in a possible experience ... And without such unity no thoroughgoing, universal, and therefore necessary, unity of consciousness would be met with in the manifold of perceptions. These perceptions would not then belong to any experience, consequently would be without an object, merely a blind play of representations, less even than a dream." Immanuel Kant
00:00 Introduction
12:16 Perception
36:15 Realism & Anti-realism
52:39 Other Minds
1:12:23 Language
1:27:02 Intentional Action
All lectures: • Varieties of Philosoph...
#Philosophy #Epistemology #Skepticism