experimental philosophy
TagDoes 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…)
A Plea for Synthetic Philosophy (guest post)
“There need not be strict disciplinary boundaries between philosophy and other disciplines.” (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…)
Philosophers, Concepts, and Cognitive Biases
“We found some evidence of differences in conceptual competence between philosophers and laypeople, and documented a difference in linguistic diet; but these differences did not translate into different susceptibility to even the most pertinent cognitive bias, or render philosophers’ judgments appreciably more accurate.” (more…)
Intuitive Expertise in Moral Judgments (guest post)
“People’s intuitive judgments about thought experiment cases are influenced by all kinds of irrelevant factors… the issue of intuitive expertise in moral philosophy is anything but settled.”
What Predicts Professional Philosophers’ Views? (updated)
A new study looks at correlations between professional philosophers’ philosophical views and their psychological traits, religious beliefs, political views, demographic information, and other characteristics. (more…)
Philosophical Intuitions Are Surprisingly Stable (guest post by Joshua Knobe)
There seems to be a very general pattern whereby the tensions in people’s intuitions tend to be surprisingly stable across both demographic groups and situations. (more…)
An Argument to Move College Students to Follow COVID-19 Guidelines
Though the COVID-19 pandemic is strengthening in parts of the United States, many universities here are planning to reopen their doors in the fall to educate, house, feed, and entertain students. (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…)
Philosophical Intuitions and Demographic Differences
Philosophers are disagreeing over what lessons should be learned from the growing body of work on the interplay between demographics and philosophical intuitions. (more…)
New Site for Experimental Philosophical Bioethics
BioXphi aims to be an online hub for experimental philosophical bioethics. (more…)
New Way Trolley Problem Shows We’re Awful
Tiffany Sun, a student at Rosyln High School in New York, was one of 40 finalists in the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search with an experimental philosophy project on the Trolley Problem. That’s the good news. The bad news? What she learned. From an article at Cogito.org:
Tiffany said the first step to conducting her research was coming up with experimental stimuli..