Locke and Skepticism

• Grant number: 24/23621-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: August 15, 2025
• End date: December 29, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Antonio Alves Eva
• Grantee: Luiz Antonio Alves Eva
• Host Investigator: Shelley Weinberg
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine and clarify Locke's response to philosophical skepticism in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, in the light of recent scholarship. Although relatively little discussed, this can be strategic for a good understanding not only of the notion of Sensitive Knowledge, but also of Locke's epistemological project in a more general sense. I intend intend to reflect first on the sense in which this problem is understood by Locke and then discuss different aspects of his approach: whether it be his more explicit response to Cartesian 'excessive skepticism' or, equally, the indirect response, maybe assumed in his project, to what Popkin calls 'constructive skepticism', as proposed by philosophers linked to the Royal Society, such as Wilkins, Chillingworth or Glanvill.