Philosophy Seminar Series: Sam Berrettini

The philosophy seminar series with speaker, Sam Berrettini. Title: Skeptical inquiry: its goals and effects Abstract: Pyrrhonist skepticism prioritizes inquiry, but at the same time has the goal of ataraxia, relief from agitation, which Pyrrhonists hold can be achieved only through relinquishing belief. But inquiry seems to be a process of searching for better beliefs, and a sometimes agitating process at that, and so it is not clear how skeptics' aims line up with their goals. I suggest that this apparent tension can be resolved if we think about skeptical inquiry as having a two-tiered goal structure, as in C. Thi Nguyen's philosophy of game agency. Further, I argue that the Pyrrhonist gains something from their inquiry that is essential for ataraxia and impossible by other means: freedom from a prescribed ways of engaging with their world. Inquiring into objects allows skeptics to develop new ways of being in the world, and that this flexibility is vital to achieving and maintaining tranquility.