Augustine and Academic Skepticism

Augustine and Academic Skepticism is the first comprehensive treatment of Augustine's critique of Academic skepticism. In clear and accessible prose, Blake D. Dutton presents that critique as a serious work of philosophy and engages with it precisely as such.

Blake D. Dutton is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.

Dutton's book is a satisfying analysis or the arguments by the Academics and Augustine. The book is sensitive to the dialectical considerations driving the lines of argument and their replies, and Dutton is particularly insightful about both how the two sides likely would continue their dialogues beyond what we have in the texts and what background motivations Augustine himself has for some particular moves in the debate.

Susan Brower-Toland, Saint Louis University:

Questions about the epistemic, practical, and moral implications of skepticism matter crucially to Augustine. For the same reason, such questions figure prominently in his writings throughout his career. In this book, Dutton offers a comprehensive and lucid exploration of Augustine's wide-ranging critique of Academic skepticism. His treatment is historically and textually informed as well as philosophically engaging. The book is a valuable contribution both to the scholarship on Augustine's philosophy and to debates about the merits of skepticism generally.

William E. Mann, University of Vermont, author of God, Modality, and Morality:

Augustine's main work against the 'Academic' skeptics is Contra Academicos, written shortly after his conversion to Christianity. Blake D. Dutton judiciously supplements his dissection of this work with a consideration of other pertinent texts. As Dutton points out, it was important to Augustine to refute this kind of skepticism because the Academics claimed that the happy life could be achieved only by one's suspending judgment on all matters, a claim that is implausible on its face and inimical to Christian faith. Dutton nicely provides the historical and philosophical background against which Augustine's campaign is carried out. Augustine is Dutton's protagonist, but Dutton is perceptive enough to see that his hero has not succeeded in banishing the foe entirely from the field and honest enough to explain where the vulnerabilities lie. One of the most salient virtues of Augustine and Academic Skepticism is fairness to both sides, a fairness that manifests itself in the care with which Dutton presents and appraises arguments, alternative readings, and intelligent conjectures about what might have been said but wasn't. The relevance of this excellent book to the field of epistemology extends well beyond late patristic studies.