Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This talk follows up 'Scepticism 1', which argued that full scepticism is practical and not negative in implication. This talk also links scepticism to embodiment, both because sceptical argument is about our embodied limitations, and because embodiment provides a context for helpful use of scepticism. Also discussed are bodily confidence are the alternative to absolute shortcuts, the importance of not being selective in our use of scepticism, and how it applies both to facts and values.
This talk was recorded in the context of a Zoom meeting of the Middle Way Network (see https://middlewaysociety.org), and is followed by discussion with the audience and by practical focus questions.
0:00 Introduction/ recap
07:31 How sceptical argument is based on embodied limitations
12:38 How absolute claims use infinite scope to try to defy those limitations
18:16 Embodiment as a source of contextualization to avoid absolutization
28:15 Confidence
32:40 Over-confidence and fragility
35:56 Inspiration for meaning, not absolutization
43:15 Avoiding selective scepticism (including 'naturalized epistemology' and the supposed inevitability of metaphysics)
48:45 Facts and values
54:00 Conclusion
56:07 Question: Can we get round the intellectuality of scepticism?
1:00:07 Comments on scepticism and anxiety, and the mixed effects of meditation
1:04:48 Comment on choosing when to apply scepticism and the varied approaches we might use to recognize absolutization
1:14:28 Question on the two different kinds of 'no' (from Scepticism 1)
1:20:35 Focus questions
This talk follows up 'Scepticism 1', which argued that full scepticism is practical and not negative in implication. This talk also links scepticism to embodiment, both because sceptical argument is about our embodied limitations, and because embodiment provides a context for helpful use of scepticism. Also discussed are bodily confidence are the alternative to absolute shortcuts, the importance of not being selective in our use of scepticism, and how it applies both to facts and values.
This talk was recorded in the context of a Zoom meeting of the Middle Way Network (see https://middlewaysociety.org), and is followed by discussion with the audience and by practical focus questions.
0:00 Introduction/ recap
07:31 How sceptical argument is based on embodied limitations
12:38 How absolute claims use infinite scope to try to defy those limitations
18:16 Embodiment as a source of contextualization to avoid absolutization
28:15 Confidence
32:40 Over-confidence and fragility
35:56 Inspiration for meaning, not absolutization
43:15 Avoiding selective scepticism (including 'naturalized epistemology' and the supposed inevitability of metaphysics)
48:45 Facts and values
54:00 Conclusion
56:07 Question: Can we get round the intellectuality of scepticism?
1:00:07 Comments on scepticism and anxiety, and the mixed effects of meditation
1:04:48 Comment on choosing when to apply scepticism and the varied approaches we might use to recognize absolutization
1:14:28 Question on the two different kinds of 'no' (from Scepticism 1)
1:20:35 Focus questions
