Reproduction of the original: Modern Skepticism by Joseph Barker

This collection of original essays by the nation's leading political theorists examines the origins of modernity, and considers the question of tolerance as a product of early modern religious skepticism. Rather than approaching the problem with a purely historical lens, the authors actively demonstrate the significance of these issues to contemporary debates in political philosophy and public policy. The contributors to Early Modern Skepticism raise and address questions of the utmost significance: Is religious faith necessary for ethical behavior? Is skepticism a fruitful ground from which to argue for toleration? This book will be of interest to historians, philosophers, religious scholars, and political theorists -- anyone concerned about the tensions between private beliefs and public behavior.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

Confronting the scientific revolution’s dismissal of Aristotle’s physics and epistemology, Nathan R. Colaner revives this foundational philosopher’s work to expose within it the underpinnings of modern philosophers’ most common intuitions about knowledge. After Aristotle’s picture of reality had been judged obsolete by the physics of the scientific revolution, modern Western epistemologists fumbled along with doctrines that had little to do with everyday life. These included Descartes’ notion of the evil genius, Hume’s claim that we can’t know anything that we are not presently observing, and Kant’s rescue of knowledge in the context of idealism. In Aristotle on Knowledge of Nature and Modern Skepticism, Colaner articulates a notion of knowledge that is characteristically Aristotelian without being dependent on his metaphysics. Simultaneously, Colaner places Aristotle in dialogue with modern thinkers to create a bridge between classical and modern philosophy and reinstate Aristotle’s prominence in the discipline of epistemology.

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.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872.