Philosophy from a Skeptical Perspective

One of the questions that philosophers discuss is: How can we avoid, or at least reduce, errors when explaining the world? The skeptical answer to this question is: We cannot avoid errors since no statement is certain or even definitely plausible, but we can eliminate some past errors. This book advocates the skeptical position and discusses its practical applications in science, ethics, aesthetics, and politics. It brings philosophy down to earth and comprises an outline of a skeptical guide to the real world.

Joseph Agassi is professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and York University, Toronto. He is the author of more than four hundred contributions, including more than twenty books, on a variety of topics in philosophy. Abraham Meidan is an independent scholar of philosophy. He is Chief Executive Officer of WizSoft, a date-mining software company; Chairman of the Board of Afeka Engineering College in Tel Aviv; and Chairman of Targetech Innovation Center.

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
The Practical Side of Philosophy	p. 5
The History of Epistemology	p. 7
Error Avoidance and the Foundations of Knowledge	p. 10
A Word about Metaphysics	p. 21
Skepticism	p. 24
The Strange Story of the Idea of Error Avoidance	p. 24
Radical Skepticism	p. 32
The Case of Mathematics and Logic	p. 42
The Skeptical Arguments	p. 45
Skepticism in Epistemology	p. 54
Practical Implications	p. 57
Science	p. 60
The Critique of Empiricism	p. 63
The Probability Theory of Rational Beliefs	p. 65
The Minimum Unexpectedness Hypothesis on Beliefs	p. 69
More on the Paradoxes of Empiricism	p. 76
Theories Adjusted Ad Hoc	p. 76
Simplicity and Occam's Razor	p. 78
Predictions and Explanations	p. 80
Tradition	p. 81
Applications	p. 83
Ethics	p. 86
Skepticism in Ethics	p. 86
Toward a Psychological Theory of Moral Judgments	p. 90
Maximizing the Welfare of Humanity	p. 93
Liberalism as the Default Option	p. 99
Utilitarian versus Kantian Ethics	p. 102
Sympathy	p. 107
Moral Disputes	p. 108
More Against Reductionism in Ethics	p. 110
Politics	p. 112
The Justification of Sovereignty	p. 112
Toward a Psychological Theory of the Morality of Politics	p. 114
The Fear of Social Disorders	p. 118
Political Disputes	p. 119
The Dissolution of the Nation-State	p. 121
Democracy versus Dictatorship	p. 122
Aesthetics	p. 126
Skepticism in Aesthetics	p. 126
Aesthetics and Beauty	p. 129
Toward a Psychological Theory of Beauty	p. 130
The Evolution of Art	p. 133
Non-Beautiful Art	p. 134
Beauty and Pleasure	p. 134
Tragedy	p. 136
Repetitions (1)	p. 136
Repetitions (2)	p. 137
Pretty Average Faces	p. 139
Humor	p. 140
Non-Reductionism and Non-Relativism	p. 141
Aesthetic Disputes	p. 143
Conclusion	p. 145
The Next Step	p. 145
Psychology	p. 146
The Meaning of Life	p. 147
Glossary	p. 151
Further Reading	p. 155
Bibliography	p. 157
Index	p. 159
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Philosophy from a Skeptical Perspective

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Philosophy from a Skeptical Perspective

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