Contents

Preface                                                                                                 page vii

Acknowledgments                                                                                         xv

1       Introduction                                                                                          1

The Practical Side of Philosophy                                5

The History of Epistemology                                   7

Error Avoidance and the Foundations ofKnowledge                   10

A Word about Metaphysics                                   21

2       Skepticism                                                                                           24

The Strange Story of the Idea of Error Avoidance                                                         24

RadicalSkepticism                                                                                                                32

The Case of Mathematics and Logic                                                                                 42

The Skeptical Arguments                                                                                                    45

Skepticism in Epistemology                                   54

Practical Implications                                      57

3       Science                                                                                                60

The Critique of Empiricism                                   63

The Probability Theory of Rational Beliefs                         65

The Minimum Unexpectedness Hypothesis on Beliefs                  69

More on the Paradoxes of Empiricism                                                                             76

Theories Adjusted Ad Hoc                                                                                                  76

Simplicity and Occam's Razor                                 78

Predictions and Explanations                                 80

Tradition                                              81

Applications                                            83

4       Ethics                                                                                                  86

Skepticism in Ethics                                       86

Toward a Psychological Theory ofMoral Judgments                   90

Maximizing the Welfare of Humanity                             93

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