Synopses & Reviews
Experimental Philosophy: Volume 2 contains fourteen articles -- thirteen previously published and one new -- that reflect the fast-moving changes in the field over the last five years.
The field of experimental philosophy is one of the most innovative and exciting parts of the current philosophical landscape; it has also engendered controversy. Proponents argue that philosophers should employ empirical research, including the methods of experimental psychology, to buttress their philosophical claims. Rather than armchair theorizing, experimental philosophers should go into the field to research how people actually think and reason. In a sense this is a return to a view of philosophy as the progenitor of psychology: inherently concerned with the human condition, with no limits to its scope or methods. In the course of the last decade, many experimental philosophers have overturned assumptions about how people think in the real world. This volume provides an essential guide to the most influential recent work on this vital and exciting area of philosophical research.
Review
Praise for Experimental Philosophy: Volume 1
"Experimental philosophy is one of the most exciting and controversial developments in philosophy in recent years. Whether it undermines or extends the methods of traditional philosophy, it raises questions that go to the heart of philosophical inquiry. This book collects many key experimental studies and theoretical analyses, bringing the reader to the leading edge of the current debate."--David Chalmers, Department of Philosophy, Australian National University
"Many philosophical questions are about human concepts. But the diversity of the philosophers' intuitions suggests that our intuitive access to concepts is far from reliable. So why not explore human intuition experimentally by studying the intuition of our fellow humans? This sane and productive idea has been the impetus for the new experimental philosophy; and this book brings some of the best of that work-including some important reflections on the questions of method it raises--together. Anyone who is interested in what is going on in philosophy now should read this stuff."--Kwame Anthony Appiah, Department of Philosophy, Princeton University
"In the good old days, science and philosophy were one, and philosophers were the leading scientists of their day. Then philosophers took to admiring science from a distance, and philosophy became, for scientists, a distant memory of sophomore year. But the good old days are coming back, and this volume heralds their arrival. Philosophers are once again discovering interesting things about the human mind, and scientists are once again discovering philosophy. Read this book, and find out what the buzz is about."--Joshua Greene, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
About the Author
Joshua Knobe is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Yale University.
Shaun Nichols is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona.
Table of Contents
Preface
Credits
Contributors
Part I. Metaphilosophy
Antti Kauppinen. The Rise and Fall of Experimental Philosophy.
Joshua Alexander, Ron Mallon, and Jonathan M. Weinberg. Accentuate the Negative.
Jen Wright. On intuitional stability: The clear, the strong, and the paradigmatic.
Part II. Consciousness
Heather Gray, Kurt Gray, and Daniel Wegner. Dimensions of mind perception.
Justin Sytsma and Edouard Machery. Two conceptions of subjective experience.
Adam Arico, Brian Fiala, Robert F. Goldberg and Shaun Nichols. The Folk Psychology of Consciousness.
Part III. Metaethics
Geoffrey Goodwin and John Darley. The psychology of meta-ethics: Exploring objectivism.
Hagop Sarkissian, John Park, David Tien, Jennifer Wright and Joshua Knobe. Folk Moral Relativism.
Part IV. The Impact of Morality on Judgment
Joshua Knobe. Person as Scientist, Person as Moralist.
Mark Alicke, David Rose and Dori Bloom. Causation, Norm Violation and Culpable Control.
Kevin Uttich and Tania Lomborozo . Norms inform mental state ascriptions: A rational explanation for the side-effect effect.
Part V. Miscellaneous
Paul Griffiths, Edouard Machery and Stefan Linquist. The Vernacular Concept of Innateness.
Wesley Buckwalter and Stephen Stich. Gender and Philosophical Intuition.
Eric Schwitzgebel and Fiery Cushman. Expertise in Moral Reasoning? Order Effects on Moral Judgment in Professional Philosophers and Non-Philosophers.
Index