RS21 - Joshua Knobe on Experimental Philosophy
Release date: November 7, 2010
Our guest, Joshua Knobe, is a philosopher interested in cognitive science, so interested, in fact, that he has contributed to establishing a whole new branch of inquiry known as experimental philosophy — and he plausibly claims that the name is not actually an oxymoron!
The idea is summarized in this way on one of the major web sites devoted to the enterprise: "Experimental philosophy, called x-phi for short, is a new philosophical movement that supplements the traditional tools of analytic philosophy with the scientific methods of cognitive science. So experimental philosophers actually go out and run systematic experiments aimed at understanding how people ordinarily think about the issues at the foundation of the philosophical discussion.”
Joshua Knobe is an assistant professor at Yale University, affiliated both with the Program in Cognitive Science and the Department of Philosophy. Most of his work involves using the kinds of experimental methods associated with cognitive science to address the kinds of questions associated with philosophy.
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Reader Comments (3)
The discussion on specialisation reminded me of a short SF story by Alfred Bester called Disappearing Act, first published in 1953 in which technical expertise is valued above all, and when a problem arises that requires a generalist, one cannot be found.
The discussion on specialisation reminded me of a short SF story by Alfred Bester called Disappearing Act, first published in 1953 in which technical expertise is valued above all, and when a problem arises that requires a generalist, one cannot be found.
Previous to listening to this episode I was quite skeptical of the relevance of experimental philosophy - it sounded like a superfluous definition that needlessly blurred the lines between science, philosophy and psychology.
However it became clear to me that there are certainly many areas of philosophical inquiry that may benefit from a less armchair-based and more experimental approach, even if that approach does not necessarily garner scientifically relevant data but merely acts as a catalytic philosophical agent.
Being able to have my mind changed about things makes me feel intellectually alive, so thank you to all of you who produce this show - it's a joy to listen to every week.