The Great Conversation Continues with Dr. John King, UNCG Dept. of Philosophy
Many fantastic scenarios have been employed in arguments for skepticism—evil spirits messing with minds, mad scientists messing with brains, extragalactic aliens messing with thoughts—but the presumably counterfactual character of the scenarios has kept them from winning many converts. Our cognitive faculties—perception, memory, intuition and reasoning—might lead us astray in such bizarre circumstances, but in our actual situation, one might think, they perform quite reliably and this, one might think, suffices for knowledge of facts about such things as the present-day physical world, its past, the mental lives of some of its inhabitants, and so forth. But the actual investigation of our cognitive faculties has generated a large and growing list of respects in which they function unreliably with no help from external deceivers. Does this mean that we should now take skepticism more seriously?
Tuesday, January 25th, Faculty Center, 5:00 pm
The Great Conversation is sponsored by the Philosophy Dept and Phi Sigma Tau and offers an opportunity for students and faculty
of all disciplines to join us in philosophical inquiry.
Bring your good mind and bring a friend!
