Proceedings of a conference titled "Skepticism from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment : a conference in memory of Richard H. Popkin (1923-2005)", held at Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Oct. 22-25, 2007.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / J. Maia Neto , J. Laursen and G. Paganini -- Introduction / José R. Maia Neto , Gianni Paganini and John Christian Laursen -- Richard Popkin And His History Of Scepticism / Jeremy D. Popkin -- The Anthropological Argument: The Rediscovery Of Ancient Skepticism In Modern Thought / Danilo Marcondes -- The Current Debate About Montaigne’s Skepticism / Vicente Raga Rosaleny -- On Skeptical Fideism In Montaigne’s Apology For Raymond Sebond / Sérgio Cardoso -- Montaigne’s Radical Skepticism / Luiz Eva -- Skeptical Aspects Of Francesco Guicciardini’s Thought / Newton Bignotto -- Probability, Certainty And Facts In Francis Bacon’s Natural Histories. A Double Attitude Towards Skepticism / Silvia Manzo -- Skepticism And Cynicism In The Work Of Pedro De Valencia / John Christian Laursen -- Periegesis And Skepticism: La Peyrère, Geographer / Frédéric Gabriel -- Skepticism, Belief, And Justification / Plínio Junqueira Smith -- Absolutism And Despotism In Samuel Sorbière: Notes On Skepticism And Politics / Lorenzo Bianchi -- Montaigne’s And Bayle’s Variations: The Philosophical Form Of Skepticism In Politics / Renato Lessa -- Aristotle’s Perplexity Becomes Descartes’s Doubt: Metaphysics 3, 1 And Methodical Doubt In Benito Pereira And René Descartes / Constance Blackwell -- Descartes And Renaissance Skepticism: The Sanches Case / Gianni Paganini -- The Hyperbolic Way to the Truth from Balzac to Descartes: \'Toute Hyperbole tend là, de Nous Amener à la Vérité par l’excès de la Vérité, c’est-à-dire par le Mensonge\' / Giulia Belgioioso -- Early German Reactions To Huet’s Censura / Jean-Robert Armogathe -- Acquired Skepticism In The Seventeenth Century / José R. Maia Neto -- Skepticism And Solipsism In The Eighteenth Century: Returning To The Egoist Question / Sébastien Charles -- Skepticism And Religious Belief In A Treatise Of Human Nature / Lívia Guimaraes -- Criticism And Science In Hume / Frédéric Brahami -- Index Of Names / J. Maia Neto , J. Laursen and G. Paganini.

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Since the publication of the first edition of Richard Popkin’s classic The History of Scepticism in 1960, skepticism has been increasingly recognized as a major force in the development of early modern philosophy. This book provides a review of current scholarship and significant updated research on some of the main thinkers and issues related to the reappraisal of ancient skepticism in the modern age. Special attention is given to the nature, importance, and relation to religion of Montaigne’s and Hume’s skepticisms; to the various skeptical and non-skeptical sources of Cartesian doubt; to the skeptical and anti-skeptical impact of Cartesianism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and to philosophers who dealt with skeptical issues in the development of their own various intellectual interests.