Rethinking the History of Skepticism

This book aims at beginning the rewriting of the history of skepticism by highlightening the medieval sources of the modern skeptical discussions. It shows through seven newly written essays how epistemological and external-world skepticism was developed and discussed particularly in the fourteenth century up to sixteenth century Paris.

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The history of skepticism usually ignores the Middle Ages. It is customary in most historical overviews to say that epistemological skepticism and external-world skepticism did not find its way into the Western philosophical tradition until Sextus Empiricus was rediscovered and retranslated into Latin in the Sixteenth century. It is the aim of this book to show that this is not true and that the history of skepticism must be rewritten. It is only once the rich discussions of both epistemological and external-world skepticism in the Middle Ages are included that the whole history of skepticism can be written, and only then can the development of modern thought be understood. This book begins this rewriting of the history of skepticism by tracing discussions of skepticism from Al-Ghazali to sixteenth century Paris.
Contributors are Taneli Kukkonen, Martin Pickave, Claude Panaccio, David Piche, Christophe Grellard, Gyula Klima, Dominik Perler, Henrik Lagerlund, and Elizabeth Karger