Uncertain Knowledge. Scepticism, Relativism, and Doubt in the Middle Ages

Dallas G. Denery II, Kantik Ghosh, Nicolette Zeeman (eds). Pages: viii + 345 p.Illustrations:10 b/w Language(s):English. Publication Year:2014. Brepols. ISBN: 978-2-503-54776-3. Hardback --- SUMMARY What are the forms in which later medieval thinkers articulate epistemological scepticism, relativism, and doubt? Is it possible to voice different forms of uncertainty in different institutional contexts and languages? Bringing together specialists in philosophy, theology, history, and literature, this book undertakes an interdisciplinary investigation of some of the ways in which the problem of knowledge was explored in the Middle Ages. This is a topic of central intellectual importance and has large cultural consequences. The Middle Ages are often still treated by non-medievalists as a time of naive epistemological self-confidence, and we hope that ultimately this revisionist project will have impact beyond medieval studies, illustrating the extent to which this was a period in which many thinkers were intrigued by, and comfortable with, uncertainty. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Varieties of Uncertainty — NICOLETTE ZEEMAN , KANTIK GHOSH , and DALLAS G. DENERY II Uncertainty and Deception in the Medieval and Early Modern Court — DALLAS G. DENERY II New Standards for Certainty: Early Receptions of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics — EILEEN C. SWEENEY Can We Trust our Senses? Fourteenth-Century Debates on Sensory Illusions — DOMINIK PERLER How Is it Possible to Believe Falsely? John Buridan, the Vetula, and the Psychology of Error — CHRISTOPHE GRELLARD Living with Uncertainty: Reactions to Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the Later Middle Ages — RITA COPELAND Uncertainty in the Study of the Bible — LESLEY SMITH On Recognizing the Limits of Our Understanding: Medieval Debates about Merlin and Marvels — KAREN SULLIVAN The Merits of Not Knowing: The Paradox of ‘Espoir certain’ in Late Medieval French Narrative Poetry — HELEN SWIFT Philosophy in Parts: Jean de Meun, Chaucer, and Lydgate — NICOLETTE ZEEMAN Vernacular Opinions — MISHTOONI BOSE Logic, Scepticism, and ‘Heresy’ In Early Fifteenth-Century Europe: Oxford, Vienna, Constance — KANTIK GHOSH Laughter and Deception: Holcot and Chaucer Remain Cheerful — HESTER GOODENOUGH GELBER Medieval Bêtise: Internal Senses and Second Skins in Richard de Fournival’s Bestiaire d’amours — SARAH KAY General Index Index nominum.…