Tag: methodology

value of philosophy

Does Studying Philosophy Develop Special Skills That Improve One’s Intuitions?

October 3, 2023

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…
philosophy

The Social Turn in Analytic Philosophy: Promises and Perils (guest post)

August 8, 2023

“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.…
Writing

Some Remarks on Form in Philosophy (guest post)

June 20, 2023

“When my younger self complained angrily in the margins with scrawls of ‘where is this going?’, he missed the sights and insights that the…
philosophy

In Defense of Boring and Derivative Philosophy (guest post)

December 12, 2022

“Even if you prefer the sexiness of radicalism or the glory of revolution: you need boring, work-a-day normal conservative philosophy.”
philosophy

Moral Dumbfounding and Philosophical Humility (guest post)

June 14, 2022

“I need to have the humility to recognize that, in this case, I have not found that truth, and that I may not ever…
philosophy

Philosophers, Concepts, and Cognitive Biases

February 24, 2022

“We found some evidence of differences in conceptual competence between philosophers and laypeople, and documented a difference in linguistic diet; but these differences did…
philosophy

In Defense of the Details (guest post)

November 23, 2021

Are today’s younger philosophers “focusing too much on detailed investigations of individual things and not enough on the big picture”?
methodology

An Empirical Approach to the Analytic-Continental Divide

October 1, 2021

What’s the difference between analytic philosophy and Continental philosophy? In a new paper, a pair of researchers use a computer analysis of the content…
methodology

Evidence for a Probabilistic Turn in Philosophy (guest post)

September 24, 2021

“If our data is representative of the philosophy literature, then the use of formal methods in philosophy changed starkly over the course of just…
Uncategorized

Optimism about Metaphysics (and Philosophy in General)

June 18, 2021

Is there reason to be optimistic about progress in metaphysics? Jessica Wilson (Toronto) thinks so.
philosophy

Computer Simulation as “Core Philosophical Method”

September 16, 2020

“Modeling and computer simulations, we claim, should be considered core philosophical methods.”
philosophy

The Origins of Analytic Philosophy

April 13, 2020

“I find the usual story exaggerated, incomplete, and mistaken in various ways.”
philosophy

Intuitions, Common Sense, and “Earning the Right” to Judgments about Philosophy

January 29, 2020

“Intuitions and common sense are not, I claim, a good basis on which to reach philosophical conclusions.”
philosophy

How Do I Figure Out What To Think? (guest post by Martin Lenz)

October 15, 2019

“Picking a side helps you to play the game. But it doesn’t help you in figuring out what you should think. In other words,…
philosophy

The Current State of Early Modern Philosophy

August 2, 2019

“While no one was looking, contextualism replaced rational reconstructionism (also known as ‘appropriationism,’ ‘presentism,’ and ‘collegialism’) as the dominant methodology among English-speaking early modern…
philosophy

Agnes Callard’s List of “views that are considered controversial that shouldn’t be”

July 25, 2019

“There’s no such thing as being good or bad at philosophy.”
Philosophy and the Sciences

When Scientists Read Philosophy, Are They Reading The “Wrong Philosophers”?

June 26, 2018

“The trouble with physicists who denigrate philosophy is that they read the wrong philosophers, which sad to say is most philosophers.” That’s Clark Glymour (Carnegie Mellon) in…
philosophy

The Apologetics Charge Against Philosophy of Religion

May 7, 2018

Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) and Paul Draper (Purdue) discuss their views on the relationship between philosophy of religion and religious apologetics in a pair of…
philosophy

A Call for Higher Standards in Philosophy

October 26, 2017

We ought hold ourselves to stricter argumentative standards than we often do, in our philosophical research manuscripts or public-forum presentations.
philosophy

Analytic Philosophy’s Egalitarianism and Standpoint Epistemology’s Privileging

October 23, 2017

“My views about how to do metaphysics as a feminist are undergoing a radical transformation… chiefly because of the Hypatia affair.”

Latest Comments

WiseGuy on A Philosopher Among the MacArthur Fellows
of course.. they gave it to him and not me.
David Wallace on AI in Peer Review: Practices & Policies
Let’s stipulate that Dropbox genuinely has no ties to AI companies. What about using Gmail or OneDrive? I don’t see how one could consistently (e.g.) abjure using Gemini…
David Wallace on AI in Peer Review: Practices & Policies
That’s my (4): no objection in principle but it is probably sensible to draw a bright line.
Meme on New Study on AI’s Philosophical Skills
Surreptitiously
Michael on A Philosopher Among the MacArthur Fellows
Yes, memory is narrative storytelling using context triggered neurological networks. Freud speculated about memory traces, Friston called the Bayesian probability clouds.
Luca Barlassina on A Philosopher Among the MacArthur Fellows
Amazing! Congrats!
Patrick Lin on New Study on AI’s Philosophical Skills
I assume they'll be using the rigorous standard set by the US Supreme Court: "I'll know it when I see it."
Nicolas Delon on New Study on AI’s Philosophical Skills
How do you get credit anonymously?
Meme on New Study on AI’s Philosophical Skills
Still need someone to start it (I’m more of an “ideas guy who will take all the credit” myself).
Jukka on AI in Peer Review: Practices & Policies
That's a laudable editorial practice. But AI & Society and a social contract between readers and journals: well, I turn to Jill; https://jilltxt.net/misaligned-citations-and-llm-generated-scientific-fraud/
Dee on AI in Peer Review: Practices & Policies
And if evidence of bad behavior from Dropbox comes to light, I'll trust them less than I do at the moment. Many of us have used Dropbox for…
Kate on AI in Peer Review: Practices & Policies
Just on point 2. I don't really think that editors are asking for reviewers to know what *you* think of it in a way that excludes what you…
Sander Verhaegh on Analytic Philosophy and McCarthyism: A New Look (guest post)
Thanks Conner, interesting suggestion! I guess the list of philosophers targeted by Red hunters is too short to draw any firm conclusions. But even this short list does…
Protrepticus on New Study on AI’s Philosophical Skills
“What exactly do you mean by…?” There is a potential demarcation problem here. Before asking whether AI can ‘do philosophy’, we need some account of what counts as…
Conner Schultz on Analytic Philosophy and McCarthyism: A New Look (guest post)
Thanks, Sander—this was an interesting read, and I appreciate you bringing (much needed) archival data to bear on this debate. Some aspects of the McCarthyist thesis have long…