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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Specters of Pyrrho: Montaigne's Essays as Pretext

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Brian C. Ribeiro's attractive book Sextus, Montaigne, Hume: Pyrrhonizers stands out among the abundant bibliographical production focused on skepticism. There are many studies devoted to analyze in detail some skeptical argument or counterargument, to investigate with philological thoroughness certain skeptical or antiskeptical notions, and to reflexively assess the validity or invalidity of some very concrete aspect of our epistemology in light of a certain trope. In sharp contrast to this perspective, Ribeiro's text poses a general philosophical problem, without giving up intellectual rigor and argumentative precision: why does skepticism matter? This question, which could easily be extended to cover our entire discipline, gives relevance to the volume and makes it a rare exercise of philosophical vindication in an impoverished time of specialization.