Workshop: A Touch of Doubt. On Haptic Scepticism

27 March 2018

Photo: UHH

Touch can serve as a “reality check“ that awakens an individual from her slumber. We pinch ourselves to confirm we are not dreaming. We slap a comrade across the cheek to bring him to his senses. In everyday speech, the sceptic is often presented as a “Doubting Thomas” with the compulsion to touch what others accept on faith alone. Philosophical scepticism, however, casts doubt on the certainty of touch: Perhaps I am dreaming—dreaming even of the sensation of pinching myself awake. Is touch the guarantee of what is real? Or is the real precisely that which slips through the epistemologist’s grasp?

Venue
Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies
Schlüterstraße 51/5th Floor
Room 5060
20146 Hamburg

Further Information

The event is open to the public, with advance registration via e-mail:
maimonides-centre@uni-hamburg.de(maimonides-centre"AT"uni-hamburg.deDoubting)