Essays on Skepticism

409 Pages·2010·2.257 MB·English

by  Anthony Brueckner

ESSAYS ON SKEPTICISM
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Essays on Skepticism
ANTHONY BRUECKNER
1
1
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Contents
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
I. TRANSCENDENTAL ARGUMENTS
AGAINST SKEPTICISM
1. TranscendentalArgumentsI 9
2. TranscendentalArgumentsII 32
3. TheAnti-SkepticalEpistemologyoftheRefutationofIdealism 58
4. ModestTranscendentalArguments 71
5. TranscendentalArgumentsfromContentExternalism 86
∗
6. Stroud’s‘‘TranscendentalArguments’’Reconsidered 107
II. SEMANTIC ANSWERS TO SKEPTICISM
PART A: ON PUTNAM
7. BrainsinaVat 115
8. SemanticAnswerstoSkepticism 133
9. Trees,ComputerProgramFeatures,andSkepticalHypotheses 152
10. CartesianSkepticism,ContentExternalism,andSelf-Knowledge 163
∗
11. TermsofEnvatment (withJonAltschul) 174
PART B: ON DAVIDSON
12. CharityandSkepticism 177
13. TheOmniscientInterpreterRidesAgain 182
PART C: ON McDOWELL
14. SingularThoughtandCartesianPhilosophy 188
viii AnthonyBrueckner:EssaysonSkepticism
III. SELF-KNOWLEDGE
PART A: CONTENT EXTERNALISM
AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE
15. ScepticismaboutKnowledgeofContent 195
16. KnowledgeofContentandKnowledgeoftheWorld 201
17. ExternalismandMemory 214
PART B: THE McKINSEY PROBLEM
18. WhatanAnti-IndividualistKnowsAPriori 225
19. TheCharacteristicThesisofAnti-Individualism 232
20. BrewerontheMcKinseyProblem 235
21. WrightontheMcKinseyProblem 238
22. ExternalismandPrivilegedAccessAreConsistent 243
∗
23. TheResiliencyoftheMcKinseyProblem 259
IV. SKEPTICISM AND EPISTEMIC CLOSURE
24. EpistemicUniversalizabilityPrinciples 267
25. WhyNozickisaSceptic 274
26. SkepticismandEpistemicClosure 281
27. UnfairtoNozick 306
28. ProblemswiththeWrightRoutetoSkepticism 310
29. TheStructureoftheSkepticalArgument 319
30. KleinonClosureandSkepticism 327
31. TheElusiveVirtuesofContextualism 337
32. StrategiesforRefutingClosureforKnowledge 341
33. Knowledge,Evidence,andSkepticismAccordingtoWilliamson 343
34. Fallibilism,Underdetermination,andSkepticism 351
Contents ix
∗
35. SomeComfortfortheClosureSkeptic 358
36. ∼K∼SK∗ 367
Bibliography 382
Index 393
∗
Theseessaysarepreviouslyunpublished