1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910807793603321

Autore

Sim Stuart

Titolo

Empires of belief : why we need more scepticism and doubt in the twenty-first century / / Stuart Sim

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Edinburgh, : Edinburgh University Press, c2006

ISBN

1-280-50163-4

9786610501632

0-7486-2694-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (217 p.)

Disciplina

121.2

Soggetti

Belief and doubt

Skepticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

COVER; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Empires of Belief, Campaigns for Scepticism; 1 Scepticism: A Brief Philosophical History; 2 Enlightenment Scepticism: A Campaign Against Unnecessary Hypotheses; 3 Super-Scepticism: The Postmodern World; 4 Science and Technology as Belief Systems; 5 Towards a Sceptical Politics; 6 Reasonable Doubt?; Conclusion: The Sceptic Fights Back; Notes; Bibliography; Index;

Sommario/riassunto

Challenges various forms of fundamentalism and unexamined belief systems from a philosophical and sceptical viewpoint. Is unquestioning belief making a global comeback? This book outlines the history of scepticism in both the Western and Islamic cultural traditions, and from the Enlightenment to postmodernism.