Abstract

While it is well recognized that early modern skepticism was epistemologically significant in prompting philosophers to re-examine the justification of knowledge claims in novel and profound ways, the metaphysical significance of early modern skepticism has often been overlooked. In this talk, I will contend that the radical doubts articulated and employed by influential thinkers like René Descartes and David Hume paved the way for unprecedented forms of metaphysical idealism in Western philosophy, according to which reality (at least as we can know it) is fundamentally dependent on our mind and its capacities, a view that is – in some form or another – still widely embraced today.