Skepticism in the Modern Age: Building on the Work of Richard Popkin

José Raimundo Maia Neto, Gianni Paganini, John Christian Laursen

Brill, 2009 - History - 389 pages

Since the publication of the first edition of Richard Popkin s classic The History of Scepticism in 1960, skepticism has been increasingly recognized as a major force in the development of early modern philosophy. This book provides a review of current scholarship and significant updated research on some of the main thinkers and issues related to the reappraisal of ancient skepticism in the modern age. Special attention is given to the nature, importance, and relation to religion of Montaigne s and Hume s skepticisms; to the various skeptical and non-skeptical sources of Cartesian doubt; to the skeptical and anti-skeptical impact of Cartesianism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and to philosophers who dealt with skeptical issues in the development of their own various intellectual interests.

About the author

José R. Maia Neto, Ph.D. (1991) in Philosophy, Washington University, is Professor of Philosophy at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has published extensively on early modern skepticism including, with Richard Popkin, Skepticism: an Anthology (Prometheus, 2007).

John Christian Laursen, Ph.D. (1985) in Political Science, The Johns Hopkins University, is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. He has published widely on skepticism, cynicism, cosmopolitanism, monarchism, and freedom of the press.

Gianni Paganini, Professor of History of Philosophy at University of Piedmont (Italy) has widely published on the history of skepticism and libertinism, as well as on Hobbes and Gassendi. His most recent book is: Skepsis. Le débat des modernes sur le scepticisme (Paris, Vrin, 2008).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Skepticism in the Modern Age: Building on the Work of Richard Popkin; Volume 181 of Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN 0920-8607
• Editors: José Raimundo Maia Neto, Gianni Paganini, John Christian Laursen
• Contributors: José Raimundo Maia Neto, Gianni Paganini, John Christian Laursen
• Publisher: Brill, 2009
• ISBN: 9004177841, 9789004177840
• Length: 389 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Medieval; Philosophy / General; Social Science / General