Duncan Pritchard, “Epistemic Angst: Radical Skepticism and the Groundlessness of Our Believing” (Princeton UP, 2016)
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What is radical skepticism and why does it matter for everyday knowledge?
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Welcome to the New Books in Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talis. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figger and Carrie is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Professor Duncan Pritchard. His new book is titled Epistemic Angst Radical Skepticism and the Groundlessness of Our Believing. just been published by Princeton University Press. Pritchard is professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Many of us were introduced to philosophy by confronting the kind of radical skepticism associated with Renee Descartes. Might you right now be dreaming? Is it even possible to have ordinary knowledge of
Knowledge that say you are right now listening to a recording. Today, many philosophers seem simply to dismiss radical skepticism as unworthy of attention. However The skeptical challenge lingers and persists. In his book Epistemic Angst Duncan Pritchard offers a sustained examination of radical skepticism. First he shows that radical skepticism comes in two distinct varieties, each of which calls for its own response. Then he offers a two part solution to radical skepticism, which combines a Wickensteinian view of the locality of rational evaluation. and an epistemic disjunctivist view of factive reasons. Ultimately, Pritchard offers a cure for epistemic angst. But it's one that allows for ongoing insecurity about our epistemic condition.
Epistemic angst is a state of the art work in epistemology, but it will be of interest not only to epistemologists. There's a lot to talk about here. So let's turn to the interview. Hello, Duncan Pritchard. Hi Bob. Thanks for joining me today on New Books and Philosophy. It's a pleasure, thanks for the invitation. Right. Um and thank you, listener, for tuning in. My guest today is Duncan Pritchard. and we'll be discussing his fantastic new book, which is titled Epistemic Angst. Radical skepticism and the groundlessness of our believing Now Duncan's book is a state of the art exploration. of an age old problem or a series or family of problems Um related to skepticism. Uh that is related to the possibility that
In some sense Knowledge is not possible. Um scepticism is often uh what draws people into philosophy um It's a staple of intro to philosophy courses. Um uh in the US at least and probably also in the UK and elsewhere. Um But um once people get drawn in by the skeptical problem, um skepticism is then often um kind of dismissed or um uh ignored. Um But Duncan's aim is to provide an answer to radical skepticism. While also acknowledging that despite uh his answer, uh which he thinks resolves Uh the problem of scepticism.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is radical skepticism and why does it matter for everyday knowledge?
0:00–9:00
2
How does Pritchard distinguish the two main varieties of radical skepticism?
9:00–17:29
3
What is the Wittgensteinian (closure‑based) response to the skeptical problem?
17:29–24:42
4
How does the underdetermination‑based version of skepticism differ from the closure version?
24:42–33:13
5
What is epistemic disjunctivism and how does it undercut the underdetermination challenge?
33:13–40:43
6
Why does Pritchard introduce the notion of ‘epistemic vertigo’ after solving the skeptical problem?
40:43–48:12
7
What future research directions does Pritchard outline for epistemology and education?
48:12–56:03
8
How do the Wittgensteinian and disjunctivist approaches complement each other in the final analysis?
56:03–1:04:46
Speakers
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