Scepticism in the Eighteenth Century: Enlightenment, Lumières, Aufklärung [electronic resource] / edited by Sébastien Charles, Plínio J. Smith.

Introduction, S. Charles, P. Smith -- What is Enlightenment Scepticism? A Critical Rereading of Richard Popkin, S. Charles -- Bayle and Pyrrhonism: Antinomy, Method, and History, P. Smith -- Fideism, Scepticism, or Free-Thought? The Dispute between Lamy and Saint-Laurens about Metaphysical Knowledge, S. Malinowski-Charles -- Leibniz’s Anti-Scepticism, A. Pelletier -- The Protestant Critics of Bayle at the Dawn of the Enlightenment, A. Matytsin -- The ‘Wise Pyrrhonism’ of the Académie Royale des Sciences of Paris: Natural Light and Obscurity of Nature according to Fontenelle, L. Peterschmitt -- Shaftesbury, Hutcheson and Moral Scepticisms, P. Kail -- A New Source for Hume’s Treatise: Bayle and the First Half of the Section ‘Of the immateriality of the Soul’, G. Paganini -- Hume’s Reply to Baylean Scepticism, T. Ryan -- How Can we Know if Scepticism is Right or Wrong? Hume and Reid’s Epistemological Answers, C. Etchegaray -- Enfield’s Brucker and Christian Anti-scepticism in Enlightenment Historiography of Philosophy, J -- C. Laursen -- Reasonable Scepticism in the French Enlightenment: some connections between Jean-Baptiste Boyer d’Argens, Louis de Beausobre and Voltaire, N. Correard -- Forms and Aims in Voltairean Scepticism, S. Pujol -- D'un scepticisme involontaire à un scepticisme existentiel. Un parcours philosophique dans l'œuvre de Rousseau, M.-A. Nadeau -- An Uneasy Relationship:  Atheism and Scepticism in the Late French Enlightenment, A. Kors -- From universal Pyrrhonism to Revolutionary Scepticism: Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville, S. Charles -- Kant’s Criticism and the Legacy of Modern Scepticism, P. Smith -- Maimon, scepticisme et Lumières, I. Radrizzani -- Scepticisme et dialectique des Lumières chez le jeune Hegel, I. Testa -- Hegel on Scepticism and Irony, M. Biscuso -- Fichte et Schopenhauer face au scepticisme de Schulze, E. Brandão -- Building without a Foundation: On the Equating of Enlightenment with Scepticism in Post-Revolutionary French Thought, F. Brahami -- Scepticisme et Lumières selon Lamennais, P. Knee.

Often portrayed as a period bound by the dogma of slavish obedience to the diktats of reason and progress, the Age of Enlightenment is revealed by this profound analysis to have been riddled with skeptical attitudes and characters, even in the Enlightenment's most codified locations, such as Germany. Most philosophers of the period are still widely regarded today as having been dominated by a core triple nexus of optimism, dogmatism and rationalism, and despite a growing body of literature exploring the features of their work that could be regarded as informed by skepticism, this unrivaled survey points up the deficiencies of the former.   This volume, then, offers an exploration of the impact of skepticism in both its historic and geographic dimensions, providing readers with a reevaluation of the role played by skepticism itself. The detailed narrative covers every identifiable instance of skepticism in the Eighteenth Century, tracing its influence of thought on major British, French and German philosophers, and including lesser-known figures whose contemporary influence requires their inclusion in a comprehensive study such as this.   This volume, then, offers an exploration of the impact of skepticism in both its historic and geographic dimensions, providing readers with a reevaluation of the role played by skepticism itself. The detailed narrative covers every identifiable instance of skepticism in the Eighteenth Century, tracing its influen ce of thought on major British, French and German philosophers, and including lesser-known figures whose contemporary influence requires their inclusion in a comprehensive study such as this.