metaphilosophy
TagMetaphilosophy Project Workshop Series
A project on metaphilosophy led by Boran Berčić (University of Rijeka) has won a sizable grant from the Croatian Science Foundation and is putting on a series of online workshops. (more…)
Is There A Sound Philosophical Method? (guest post)
“Is there a sound method for constructing and assessing philosophical theories—one capable of generating theories, in diverse subfields, that deliver philosophy’s ultimate goal?” (more…)
In Which Areas of Philosophy Should We Expect Faster Progress?
On what we can call the answers model of philosophy, the primary aim of philosophy is to learn philosophical truths, and a primary form of philosophical progress is learning true answers to “the big questions of philosophy,” as David Chalmers (NYU) puts it. (more…)
Philosophy Is Not In Charge of Itself (and other points worth remembering when writing about the state of philosophy)
Are you thinking about writing about the state of philosophy today?
Team Philosophy (guest post)
“There are clear advantages to team science… Would this model work for philosophy?” (more…)
Philosophy as Sustaining Faith in our Cognitive Agency
“What are the practices that sustain our faith in ourselves as the agents of our thinking?” (more…)
Philosophy as Art
“I view the philosophical essay as an art form whose medium is ideas.” (more…)
Does Studying Philosophy Develop Special Skills That Improve One’s Intuitions?
A new study suggests the answer to that question is “no.” Rather, according to the study’s authors, what explains why the intuitions about particular cases of those who’ve studied philosophy differ from others is simply that they’ve been taught the standard interpretation of those specific cases, while the others have not. (more…)
What’s the Point of Philosophy (as an academic discipline)?
I’m curious about what academic philosophers take to be the point of academic philosophy. Just a little question, that’s all. (more…)
Immoral Moral Philosophers
In a recent post at The Splintered Mind, Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside) asks whether it matters “if ethicists walk the walk.” (more…)
Philosophical Exceptionalism & Philosophical Writing
“I like to think that academic fields often have a proprietary emotion. In the case of philosophy, the proprietary emotion is embarrassment.” (more…)
The Social Turn in Analytic Philosophy: Promises and Perils (guest post)
“The linguistic turn is over. We partied hard, got hungover, and now we’re trying to live as respectable adults… Today, a new revolution is brewing. Analytic philosophy is in the midst of a social turn.” (more…)
Philosophy as Glial Cell (guest post)
Glial cell? “Commonly described as the ‘glue’ that holds the nervous system together, they’re better thought of as infrastructure, the ductwork and insulation that give heft to comparatively sparse neurons. But even this metaphor turns out to be incomplete…”
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A Plea for Synthetic Philosophy (guest post)
“There need not be strict disciplinary boundaries between philosophy and other disciplines.” (more…)
The Practicality of Philosophy
“There is something philistine in his demand that philosophy always answer to practical needs.” (more…)
Better Philosophy Through Time Travel
Here’s one way of thinking about progress in philosophy. (more…)
Optimism about Philosophy
“I know a lot of people on twitter and social media complain about the current state of philosophy but I tend to be an optimist.” (more…)
The Development of Experimental Philosophy
A recent survey of publications in experimental philosophy provides a picture of the field’s growth and range. (more…)
In Defense of Boring and Derivative Philosophy (guest post)
“Even if you prefer the sexiness of radicalism or the glory of revolution: you need boring, work-a-day normal conservative philosophy.” (more…)
36 Answers to “What Is the Value of Philosophy?” (updated)
Friction, a philosophy channel featuring interviews of professional philosophers, recently released a supercut of three dozen thinkers answering the question “What is the value of philosophy?” (more…)
Why the History of Philosophy Matters to Philosophy (guest post)
“Studying the history of philosophy can help us see ourselves from the outside and that can help us inhabit philosophy from the inside.” (more…)
Organizing for Answers
Suppose the main aim of the enterprise of academic philosophy is to generate philosophical knowledge, and that said knowledge is mainly answers to big philosophical questions. How should the discipline be organized so as to best achieve this aim? (more…)
A New Topography of Philosophy: Analytic, Continental, and Philosophy of Science
When it comes to mapping the territory of academic philosophy, “the timeworn analytic-continental divide should be replaced with a three-way split, between analytic, continental, and philosophy of science programs.” (more…)
Article Spotlight: “The End of History” by Hanno Sauer (Updated)
Daily Nous is launching a new series, Article Spotlight, in which the authors of recent journal articles are invited to write brief posts here about them.
Analytic Philosophy and the Big Questions of Life
At the start of each term, Helena de Bres (Wellesley) holds “get to know you” office hours with her students. “So what made you sign up for a philosophy class?” she asks. (more…)
To Be a Department of Philosophy (guest post)
“There are many reasons to expand the story we tell about philosophy. But a main reason is just that the best, most interesting, and even the correct answers to philosophical questions that interest us might be found anywhere.” (more…)
The Contingency of Philosophers’ Philosophies
In an interview, Josef Mitterer is asked about how approaches to philosophy may vary by whether they provide “an escape from contingency.” (more…)
“The Way Philosophy Is Personal”
Wittgenstein’s early private notebooks have just been published in English, translated by Marjorie Perloff (Stanford). Towards the end of an essay about them, Kieran Setiya (MIT) draws attention to “the way philosophy is personal.” (more…)