Residency Period: 03/01/2008 to 03/01/2009
José Raimundo Maia Neto holds a degree in Social Sciences from the Fluminense Federal University (1983), a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (1987) and a PhD in Philosophy from the Washington University in Saint Louis (1991). He is currently Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He works in the area of History of Modern Philosophy, developing research mainly on the skeptical currents of the 17th century.
THE SKEPTIC PARADIGM IN MODERN THOUGHT
The objective of the research is to show the relevance of skepticism in modern thought, especially in the philosophy of the 17th century, and its repercussions in the religious debates that promoted secularization and in the scientific debates that promoted the new science. During the residency at the IEAT, the professor will write a book on the academic skeptical wisdom of Pierre Charron, French philosopher of the late Renaissance, and his great impact on French philosophy in the 17th century: Gasseni, La Mothe Le Vayer, Descartes and Pascal. The professor will also organize, together with Hubert Bost and Jean-Robert Armogathe from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) and Gianni Paganini from Università del Piemonte (Vercelli) an international colloquium at UFMG on October 22-24, 2008 on Pierre Bayle , influential French skeptic of the late 17th century. Together with Gianni Paganini and John Laursen of the University of California (Riverside), he will curate a collective book featuring some of the most recent research on the history of skepticism from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment.