Lisa Paravan

This paper explores Peter Unger’s scepticism, focusing on his analysis of knowledge and his articulation of knowledge as a condition for assertion. The paper pursues two primary objectives: first, to provide a comprehensive and charitable interpretation of Unger’s radical claims, contextualizing them within the initial phase of his work spanning the seventies and early eighties. Second, it aims to shed light on the problematic implications arising from a knowledge condition for assertion, particularly when certainty – as characterized in Unger’s view – is considered necessary for knowledge. The concluding remarks suggest a strategy to avoid these challenges, by proposing an alternative understanding of certainty and knowledge, aligning with recent developments of hinge epistemology.

This contribution aims to explore scepticism’s implications with respect to the notions of ontological dependence and independence, referring especially to Peter Unger’s New Scepticism. First, a reconstruction is offered of the fundamental theoretical perspective acting as the backdrop of Unger’s scepticism, in relation to his volume Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism (1975). Then, light will be shed on the implications that this perspective has on the ontological level, referring also to some of Unger’s sceptical and nihilistic philosophy’s subsequent developments. At last, a critical interpretation is suggested of the author’s proposed solution to the radical outcome of his philosophy, in light of the notions of ontological dependence and independence.

Sono passati ormai più di sessant’anni dalla Rede Lecture tenuta da Sir Charles Percy Snow, intitolata The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959). Da allora, il dibattito sulle ‘due culture’ e sulla ‘terza cultura’ si è sviluppato lungo direttrici nuove, incrociandosi con la riflessione su multi-, inter- e trans- disciplinarità. Il volume è il risultato di un’iniziativa avviata all’interno dell’Osservatorio sulla multidisciplinarità e ideata dall’Università di Udine per ripercorrere le linee principali di tale sviluppo, dalla nascita delle discipline accademiche, ai timori per l’eccessiva frammentazione specialistica dei saperi, fino alle più recenti indagini sulle dinamiche della formazione e della ricerca interdisciplinari.