Project overview
This project seeks to break new ground by bringing Kierkegaard’s existential conception of doubt into dialogue with the contemporary mainstream, focussing on the relation between the intellectual vices, such as a lack of intellectual courage, and various forms of scepticism, both inside and outside of academia.
The central hypothesis that this project seeks to explore is that scepticism is not just an intellectual problem to be combatted by offering a theory that manages to salvage some knowledge from the clutches of the sceptic, but also an ethical one that engages the whole person of the doubter.
The project is structured into three inter-related components:
The Existential Dimension of Doubt (Years 1 to 4)
This component will focus on exploring Kierkegaard’s work, in order to develop a systematic account of his ‘existential’ conception of doubt and despair and relate this to both historical and contemporary debates about scepticism.
Radical Scepticism, Intellectual Courage and Conspiracy Theory (Years 1 to 4)
This component will explore the connection between epistemic vice and scepticism by considering the similarities and differences between radical sceptical scenarios and malevolent global conspiracy theories.
The Role of Scepticism and Doubt in a ‘Post Truth’ World (Years 4 to 5)
This component will examine epistemic nihilism and ‘post-truth’ phenomena in the wider culture, and develop a highly innovative educational module designed to inculcate intellectual courage as a means of countering these nefarious processes.
Overall, the project will provide the conceptual framework for an entirely new approach to scepticism in epistemology, a novel understanding of the relationship between radical scepticism and conspiracy theory, and an empirically-informed analysis of the importance of intellectual courage for knowledge acquisition.
