empirical
TagA Plea for Synthetic Philosophy (guest post)
“There need not be strict disciplinary boundaries between philosophy and other disciplines.” (more…)
Philosophy’s Happiness Literature: More of It, More Empirical (guest post)
In the following guest post, Michael Prinzing (Yale) discusses trends in philosophical discussions of happiness and well-being. (more…)
“There is no philosophical essence”
“The question I regularly encountered, and still do, is: Is that still Philosophy?” (more…)
Philosophers: “Learn to listen rather than talk”
“What is the first thing philosophers have to change about their ideas, or their ways of presenting them, when putting on their public policy hat?” (more…)
What Is Learned from 70,000 Responses to Trolley Scenarios?
A team of researchers has reported on its collection and analysis of 70,000 responses to three scenarios that frequently comprise versions of the trolley problem. (more…)
Philosophy and “The Empirically Tractable”
I think you are right to be suspicious of the tendency of this institutional paradigm to postulate truths that are ‘basic’, ‘ultimate’ or ‘fundamental’ just at the point where things begin to look interesting or problematic from the point of view of those we in the profession pretentiously refer to as ‘non-philosophers’. (more…)
An Empirical Study of Bullshitters
“Bullshitters. Who Are They and What Do We Know about Their Lives?” is the title of a new study conducted by John Jerrim (UCL), Phil Parker (Australian Catholic University), and Nikki Shure (UCL and IZA – Institute of Labor Economics).
Writing Philosophy and Developing Curricula with Undergrads
Some professors see their students, at least sometimes, as partners in education, but Matthew Slater, professor of philosophy at Bucknell University, does impressive work to make that partnership a reality.
The Geography of Philosophy Project
The Geography of Philosophy Project, initiated last year with a $2.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, is “an interdisciplinary cross-cultural exploration of universality and diversity in fundamental philosophical concepts.” (more…)
Scientism’s Threat To Philosophy
So, just as naturalism-as-opposed-to-apriorism succumbs to scientism when it falsely assumes that whatever isn’t a priori must be science, naturalism-as-opposed-to-supernaturalism succumbs to scientism when it falsely assumes that whatever isn’t religion must be science. Granted, theological “explanations” don’t really explain anything; but it doesn’t follow, and it..
Appiah on the “Actual Practice of Philosophy”
In the new Oxford Review of Books, Daniel Kodsi, an apparently remarkably well-read Oxford undergraduate, conducts a wide-ranging three-part interview (I, II, III) with Kwame Anthony Appiah (NYU). Here’s an excerpt from Part II:
Philosophy, Real People, and the Real World
What are the boundaries of philosophy? Why are they there and what is their nature? How do such boundaries structure the way philosophers approach understanding people, events, relationships, institutions, and so on? A few recent pieces around the Internet explore versions of these questions.
Justin E.H. Smith (Université Paris Diderot) argues at Berfrois that th..