Dario Perinetti, professor of philosophy at the University of Quebec in Montreal, has won the 2018 prize for best article to appear in the Journal of the History of Philosophy.

Professor Perinetti’s winning article, “Hume at La Flèche: Skepticism and the French Connection,” appeared in the January 2018 issue of the journal. Here’s the abstract of the article:

This paper presents new evidence regarding Hume’s stay in La Flèche and attempts to reconstruct the intellectual world in which he wrote A Treatise of Human Nature. The evidence comes from a 1777 manuscript containing the catalogue of the library of the College of La Flèche, where Hume worked, and from a study of the books still extant in that library. Based on this new evidence, I claim a) that La Flèche provided Hume with a rich intellectual environment where he could learn not only about philosophy and classical literature but also get acquainted with the main debates that agitated scholars on the Continent; b) that Hume had access to the works of Sextus and to other important sources on skepticism; and c) that we should pay closer attention to the influence of some less-noticed French sources on Hume’s philosophical views.

The winner is selected by the journal’s board of directors. The prize is $1,500.

(via Jack Zupko)