progress in philosophy

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Progress & New Ideas in Philosophy

“In what state do we find the research produced in academic analytic philosophy?… Things are better than they’ve been for eighty years or so.” (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?

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Which Questions Can’t Philosophy Answer By Itself?

In an interview in The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Australasia, Thomas Spiteri asks Peter Godfrey-Smith (Sydney) about “how best to make epistemic progress” answering philosophical questions about minds and consciousness. (more…)

In Defense of the Details (guest post)

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

World Philosophy Day & the Growth of Philosophy

Today is World Philosophy Day, a day designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate “the enduring value of philosophy for the development of human thought, for each culture and for each individual.” (more…)

Enough Ranking (guest post)

“The project of ranking one place against another completely distorts the sorts of aspirations we should have for the field.” (more…)

Optimism about Metaphysics (and Philosophy in General)

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

Philosophical Quality Now and Then

“I find no good reason to think that philosophers today do philosophy better than philosophers 600 or 2000 years ago.” (more…)

Progress in Philosophy

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is becoming the most well-known defender of the idea that philosophy makes progress. Last year, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, she wrote:

Philosophy was the first academic field; the founder of the Academy was Plato. Nevertheless, philosophy’s place in academe can stir up controversy. The ancient lineage itself provokes dissensi..

The Intellectual Costs of Misconduct (guest post)

The following is a guest post * from a woman graduate student in philosophy who wishes to remain anonymous.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the complicated ways issues of equity connect with intellectual and professional respect. On philosophy blogs there has been extensive discussion regarding the climate for women in philosophy, issues of sexual misconduct, ..

Is Bio-Medical Ethics Failing?

What medical ethics needs is more and better philosophy—and a return to the adventurousness and originality of its pioneering days. There have been successes—euthanasia and better treatment of animals to mention just two. But the field has in many ways dried up or become dominated by moralists bent on protecting privacy and confidentiality at great cost and ‘getting..

When Is Philosophical Agreement Suspicious?

Last week, in the post about philosophy of religion, I wrote:

For a few reasons, it is not a sociologically surprising fact that most philosophy of religion in the West today is conducted by Christian theists. But it is certainly philosophically surprising (bordering on philosophically suspect) that, of all the possible options for religious belief (which include n..