The 2025 Terry Lectures with Peter Adamson: Believe It... Or Not: Religion and Skepticism in Global Philosophy

It is nowadays typically assumed that religious belief is defined by faith, and that a skeptical attitude is more characteristic of those who reject religion. These lectures will argue that, at least before the Enlightenment, the situation was the reverse. Religious belief was often paired with skepticism and modest claims about what humans can and do know. For example, skeptical philosophers advised that one should simply follow the religious beliefs of one's own culture because it is the "safe" option in the face of pervasive uncertainty. After introducing this general idea at the beginning of the opening lecture, Peter Adamson will go on to look at three more specific examples: the "problem of ignorance" (why God does not give us all knowledge for free, as it were); how philosophers dealt with skepticism about the efficacy of rituals; and skeptical arguments based on the differences between animals and humans. Each lecture will range over several religious traditions: the series as a whole will cover texts drawn from the
Christian, Confucian, Daoist, Greek pagan, Hindu, Islamic, and Jewish belief systems.

Lecture 1 (April 7)
Critiques of Pure Reason: Epistemic Theodicy in Global Philosophy

Lecture 2 (April 8)
Give Without Getting: Philosophical Critique of Ritual in China, India, and Greece

Lecture 3 (April 9)
Skepticism Across Borders: Arguments from Animal Difference in China, Greece, and Islam

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Brenna Larson

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