Yuval Avnur (PhD, NYU 2008)
Professor of Philosophy
Scripps College, Claremont
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About:
About:
Doubt is my main interest (I think). My work focuses on skepticism and its history as it applies to everything from whether this is reality to how we get our news online these days.
I am Professor of philosophy at Scripps College in Claremont, California. I'm also editor of Midwest Studies in Philosophy.
Below you can find descriptions of my current projects and my published work.
Books:
Books:
The Skeptic and the Veridicalist:
The Skeptic and the Veridicalist:
On the Difference Between Knowing What There Is and Knowing What Things Are
On the Difference Between Knowing What There Is and Knowing What Things Are
Cambridge University Press, Elements Series (2023). This is a short book on the relation between skepticism and some issues in metaphysics. The book's main site at CUP is here.
A Companion to Pascal
A Companion to Pascal
A Companion to Pascal is a volume I co-edited with Roger Ariew for Wiley Blackwell. It is a collection of essays (including one of my own) on the various aspects of Blaise Pascal's philosophy. It will be out in December 2025, you can pre-order it here.
Why Read Pascal Today?
Why Read Pascal Today?
Why Read Pascal Today? is a book for Cambridge University Press about some of Pascal's fascinating and often ignored ideas about belief, perception, and the human condition. It it expected to be available in electronic form in 2026, and print in 2027. The page at CUP is here.
Introduction to Philosophy:
Introduction to Philosophy:
Classical and Contemporary Readings
Classical and Contemporary Readings
Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings (OUP) is a widely used introductory textbook. Starting with the forthcoming 10th edition, I have joined as co-editor with John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer. The new edition will be available in electronic form. We have also made some changes to the selections to reflect some contemporary concerns, and to broaden the canon. Expected in 2026. (The image to the left is of the previous 9th edition.)
The Possibility of an Afterlife
The Possibility of an Afterlife
The Possibility of an Afterlife, with Oxford University Press, argues that the best arguments against the afterlife fail, and that despite what many assume, this is neither a religious nor scientific matter. The most informed attitude to take about our deaths, and so our lives, is a kind of agnosticism. This book has been a long-running project of mine (for over 12 years), and is almost ready...
Published and forthcoming articles/chapters:
Published and forthcoming articles/chapters:
Avoiding the Unexpected Circuit: A Humean Improvement on ‘Cartesian’ Skepticism. In Hume and Contemporary Epistemology, Scott Stapleford & Verena Wagner (eds). Routledge (2024).
The Pascalian Heart in the Online Echo Chamber. In Oxford Studies in Epistemology, Alex Worsnip (editor) (forthcoming).
What Can Preemption Do? Analytic Philosophy (2025) (co-authored with Chigozie Obiegbu).
Veridicalism and Skepticism. Philosophical Quarterly (2024).
Pascal's Birds: Signs and Significance in Nature. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2023).
The Skeptical Paradox and the Generality of Closure (and other principles) in New Perspectives on Epistemic Closure, Duncan Pritchard & Matthew Jope (eds). Routledge. (2023)
Keep Quiet Inside the Echo Chamber: the ethics of posting on social media. In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Media Ethics, Carl Fox and Joe Saunders, Editors. Routledge (2023).
What is Wrong With the Online Echo Chamber: a Motivated Reasoning Account. Journal of Applied Philosophy: 37 (4):578-593, 2020.
Justification as a Loaded Notion. Synthese 198 (5):4897-4916, (2019).
Unicorn Agnosticism. Inquiry 64 (8):818-829, (2021).
What is Wrong with Agnostic Belief? in Agnosticism: Explorations in Philosophy and Religious Thought. Gavin Hyman & Francis Fallon, Editors. Oxford University Press. (2020)
The Nature and Limits of Skeptical Criticism. International Journal for the Study of Skepticism, 9 183-205. (2019)
Denial, Silence, and Openness. The Meaning and Power of Negativity. Ingolf Dalferth, Editor. Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen. (2017/2021)
On What Does Rationality Hinge? International Journal for the Study of Skepticism, 7 246-257. (2017)
How Irrelevant Influences Bias Belief Philosophical Perspectives, Special Issue: Epistemology, Volume 29, Issue 1, pages 7–39, December 2015 (co-authored with Dion Scott-Kakures).
Excuses for Hume's Skepticism Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Volume 92, Issue 2, pp 264-306, March (2016).
On an Irrelevant Regress Theoria, Volume 82, Issue 1, pp 81-88, February (2016).
On Losing Your Self in Your Afterlife Self or No-Self? The Debate about Selflessness and the Sense of Self , Ingolf Dalferth, Editor. Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen). (2017)
Closure Reconsidered Philosophers' Imprint Vol 12, No 9, (2012).
Mere Faith and Entitlement Synthese: Special Issue on Skepticism & Justification, Volume 189, Issue 2, pp 297-315, (2012).
Hawthorne on the Deeply Contingent A Priori Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Vol 83, Issue 1 pp 174-183, (2011).
In Defense of Secular Belief Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Vol. IV, Jonathan Kvanvig, Editor. Clarendon Press, Oxford. (2011)
No Closure on Skepticism Pacific Philosophical Quarterly Vol 92, Issue 4, pp 439-447, (with Anthony Brueckner and Christopher Buford). (2011)
An Old Problem for the New Rationalism Synthese, Vol 183, Issue 2, pp 175-185, (2011).
Book reviews:
Book reviews:
"Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy," David J. Chalmers. in Philosophy.
"An Agnostic Defends God: How Science and Philosophy Support Agnosticism" Bryan Frances. in European Journal for Philosophy of Religion.
"Hinge Epistemology," Annalisa Coliva & Danièle Moyal‐Sharrock (eds.). in Philosophical Investigations.
"Science and Religion in Wittgenstein's Fly-Bottle," by Tim Labron. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
Contact: yuval [dot] avnur [at] gmail [dot] com
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