The sceptical challenge

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Abbreviations......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
KNOWLEDGE, JUSTIFICATION AND TRUTH......Page 18
The circle of belief......Page 21
Why does justification matter?......Page 22
Knowledge without justification......Page 26
Knowledge: beyond truth and justification......Page 28
Does knowledge-scepticism matter?......Page 30
Conclusion......Page 33
THE SCEPTICAL LIFE......Page 35
The agnostic life......Page 37
Is it possible to suspend belief?......Page 39
The logical defence of agnosticism......Page 40
The ethical defence of agnosticism......Page 43
The implementation of the sceptical doctrine......Page 44
The sceptical doctrine and the practical difficulties......Page 46
THE CHALLENGE......Page 48
The sceptical doctrine and its justification......Page 52
Further solutions......Page 56
A way out of the predicament......Page 57
THE RESPONSE......Page 59
Our strategy......Page 60
Naturalized epistemology?......Page 64
Modest epistemology......Page 67
DESCARTES\' SCEPTICAL CHALLENGE......Page 70
The source of the circularity: one diagnosis......Page 71
Descartes is not an antecedent sceptic......Page 72
A non-circular response to consequent scepticism?......Page 77
Doing without the principle of clarity and distinctness?......Page 78
Beginning with the principle of clarity and distinctness?......Page 80
An alternative diagnosis of the circle......Page 81
INDUCTIVE SCEPTICISM......Page 83
The first premise......Page 84
The second premise......Page 85
The third premise......Page 86
The fourth and fifth premises......Page 89
The argument newly couched......Page 91
SCEPTICISM AND THE STRUCTURE OF JUSTIFICATION......Page 94
Terminology......Page 96
Arguments against terminating chains of justification......Page 97
An argument against infinite justification chains......Page 100
A second argument against infinite justification chains......Page 101
Is groundless justification trivial?......Page 102
Is terminating justification trivial?......Page 103
INDUCTIVE SCEPTICISM REVISITED......Page 105
Can induction\'s reliability be shown deductively?......Page 108
Must induction be non-empirically justified?......Page 110
The apriorist urge......Page 111
Can induction be justified empirically?......Page 112
The justification of induction......Page 113
TRANSCENDENT SCEPTICISM AND INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION......Page 115
Is the unobservable epistemically inaccessible?......Page 116
Van Fraassen\'s argument......Page 118
Hume\'s argument......Page 119
Russell\'s first argument......Page 121
Russell\'s second argument......Page 122
Moderate scepticism?......Page 124
THE DEMON ARGUMENT REVISITED......Page 126
Denying the first premise......Page 129
Williams\' objection......Page 130
Inferring the world from appearances......Page 131
Alston\'s objection......Page 134
Further objections rebutted......Page 136
Transcendental arguments......Page 137
THE DREAM ARGUMENT REVISITED......Page 139
Rejecting the first premise......Page 140
Sextus\' dream argument......Page 143
Conclusion......Page 145
Notes......Page 146
Bibliography......Page 148
Index......Page 153