Catalina González Quintero - Academic Skepticism in Hume and Kant: A Ciceronian Critique of Metaphysics

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Catalina Gonzlez Quintero earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Emory University in the USA and is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Universidad de los Andes in Bogot, Colombia. Her research focuses on the history of modern philosophy, particularly in the areas of skepticism and rhetoric. She has published various articles and book chapters on the philosophy of Cicero, Kant, Hume, and Vico in US, European, and Latin American journals as well as in compilations published by Springer, Palgrave, De Gruyter, SUNY Press, Lawrence Erlbaum, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and Universidad de los Andes.

This book is the result of several years of research and numerous courses taught at Universidad de los Andes (Bogot, Colombia) on ancient and modern skepticism. I want to thank the University for its academic and financial support. Funding from the School of Social Sciences, in particular, enabled me to conduct research in Berlin (Germany) to gather primary and secondary sources, and to take a research leave at DePaul University (Chicago, USA), where I finished writing the manuscript in Spanish. I am grateful to Mara del Rosario Acosta and the Department of Philosophy at DePaul University for this invitation, without which my stay would not have been possible.

Many people participated in the different stages of writing this manuscript. I want to thank them all, even if I do not mention someone specifically here. I am deeply indebted to the late Rudolf Makkreel, for giving me the gift of a heterodox reading of Kant, and Steven Strange, for introducing me to Ciceros skepticism. My special thanks to Peter Cousins, who patiently prepared the translation of this book into English. I am grateful to Luis Carlos Surez for his help in searching for sources and handling the references of Kants Gesammelte Schriften; to Felipe Gonzlez for his translation of Greek and Latin terminology; to Andrea Lozano, Ignacio vila, and Mariluz Restrepo for their reading and commenting on early drafts; to Manuel Corts for his arduous work confirming bibliographical references and editing the Spanish manuscript; and to Alfonso Correa Motta for his comments on the first two chapters of the book. I cannot stress enough my gratitude to Allison Wolf for not only reading, commenting, and editing the entire book (a massive effort, indeed) but also giving me the confidence I needed to publish it in English. I am especially grateful to Lismaco Parra for giving me the courage to pursue a career in philosophy and for our long (and sometimes heated!) conversations about Kant, Hume, and religion. My friends know how much this book owes them for their constant encouragement during these years. Among them, am particularly grateful to Antonio Snchez, Marcela and Santiago Villegas, and Marcela Garca for their support at the most challenging moments of writing this manuscript. Finally, I want to thank my very dear family, my siblings Alberto and Mara Leonor, as well as their spouses and children, for their love and care. And, of course, Algaraba, for always living up to her name!