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Healthy Scepticism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Oswald Hanfling
Affiliation:
The Open University

Extract

In his article ‘Healthy Scepticism’, James Franklin gives an admirable survey of thirteen kinds of attempts to refute what he calls ‘symmetry arguments for scepticism’, finding all of them inadequate. The symmetry argument that he proposes to test is given as follows:

Firstly, it is possible that what we perceive is entirely an illusion created by a deceitful demon. Second, there is no reason to prefer the realist hypothesis to this one (308).

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1993

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References

1 Franklin, James, ‘Healthy Scepticism’, Philosophy, 07 1991.Google Scholar

2 I have discussed such arguments in ‘Can there be a Method of Doubt’, Philosophy, 1984Google Scholar; ‘Scepticism on Twin Earth’, Ratio, 1984Google Scholar; and ‘How is Scepticism Possible?’, Philosophy, 1987.Google Scholar