Yonover, Jason
Junior Fellow: March–September 2019
Research Project: Scepticism, Self-Refutation, and First Principles
The thorough sceptic is notoriously unwavering: no matter what their opponent may positively propose, this comprehensive doubter will try to find a way to reject it. They will put into question their opponent’s argument, the premises of their opponent’s argument, and eventually the “first principle” that may be at the foundation of the premises of their opponent’s argument. Given this, one of the most interesting and compelling strategies for the sceptic’s opponent is to motivate some such principle in an elenctic manner, that is, to show that the sceptic refutes themselves and thereby affirms a relevant first principle, allowing for an escape from any kind of global scepticism. My aim in this project is to work out exactly what is at stake in the case of two philosophers who pursue such a strategy: Aristotle (who defends the principle of non-contradiction in this manner) and Spinoza (who seems to take a very similar path in motivating the principle of sufficient reason).
Jason Yonover is a dual PhD Candidate in the German Studies and Philosophy departments of Johns Hopkins University.