Does Scepticism Presuppose Voluntarism?

Philosophical scepticism is sometimes thought to presuppose doxastic voluntarism, the claim that we are able to believe or disbelieve propositions at will. This is problematic given that doxastic voluntarism itself is a controversial position. I examine two arguments for the view that scepticism pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for the study of skepticism
Main Author: Hill, Jonathan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2018
In: International journal for the study of skepticism
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Scepticism / Free will
Further subjects:B Scepticism doxastic voluntarism Sextus Empiricus Descartes Huet Hume La Forge
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:Philosophical scepticism is sometimes thought to presuppose doxastic voluntarism, the claim that we are able to believe or disbelieve propositions at will. This is problematic given that doxastic voluntarism itself is a controversial position. I examine two arguments for the view that scepticism presupposes voluntarism. I show that they rely on different versions of a depiction of scepticism as a conversion narrative. I argue that one version of this narrative does presuppose voluntarism, but the other does not. Moreover, alternative versions of the narrative are available. I conclude that scepticism does not presuppose voluntarism.
ISSN:2210-5700
Contains:In: International journal for the study of skepticism
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22105700-00001226