Amateur philosopher Steve Patterson writes a book in which h

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Amateur philosopher Steve Patterson writes a book in which he attempts to refute radical skepticism. Paid $1000 to professional philosopher Jason Brennan to review it. It's trash, Brennan says

>Patterson does a decent job reciting the arguments against what I call “super-duper radical skepticism.” He does almost nothing to defeat what I call “radical skepticism”. He does not actually bother to defend a foundationalist theory of knowledge. Still, his book beautifully written, takes only an hour to read, and at least defeats super-duper radical skepticism. We might ask: Is this at least a good book for a lay audience?

>Unfortunately, the answer is no, for two big reasons. First, there are far better books, such as Thomas Nagel’s The View from Nowhere or Michael Huemer’s Skepticism and the Veil of Perception. Second, Patterson’s book is chock full of elementary errors. Nearly every page contains some major mistake or conflates two or more distinct ideas together. Laypeople would be better off having no exposure to philosophy at all.

>In the end, Square One is a beautifully written text, with lucid prose and delightful metaphors. What’s new isn’t good and what’s good isn’t new. Patterson could condense the entire thing to about 3000 words. Five stars for style; one star for substance.

http://steve-patterson.com/jason-brennans-full-review-square-one/