SCHC 365 H02 26416

Humanities, HistoryCiv, AIU

Notes:

Is reality a fiction?  Do our senses deceive us?  How can we be certain that our perceptions correspond to the external world?  These are the questions of the skeptic.  In this course, we survey the rich tradition of skepticism from antiquity to today, asking why skepticism remains a persistent component of philosophy and literature.  Although defined by the motto, “assert nothing,” the history of skeptical positions reveals a number of key contributions to notions of fiction, imagination, and subjective freedom. Also, what we focus on is the affective factor of skepticism, considering why skepticism and doubt are always linked to particular emotional states like ataraxy (freedom from disturbance) or despair.  Finally, the course addresses skepticism as a critical weapon, wielded against not only philosophy, but also science, politics and religion. With this in mind, the course surveys a selection of literary and philosophical texts from authors including Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Hume, Shakespeare, Kant, Kleist, E.T.A Hoffmann, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Hofmannsthal. With skepticism as our theme, we will also become aware of the epistemological assumptions that we bring to the world.  This will give us an opportunity to challenge the notions of knowledge and truth that we carry with us in everyday life and to learn how skepticism belongs to a procedure of critical inquiry. We will also see how skepticism challenges our tacit assumptions about the opposition of “fiction” and “reality,” the role of the “imagination,” and the relationship between “language” and “things.”