Experimental Philosophy

FAIN: EH-50262-11

Arizona Board of Regents (Tucson, AZ 85721-0073)
Shaun Nichols (Project Director: March 2011 to August 2013)
Ron Mallon (Co Project Director: March 2011 to August 2013)

A four-week institute for twenty-five college and university faculty members on experimental philosophy which assesses the intuitions of ordinary people regarding important philosophical questions.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of interest in bringing a new set of tools to bear on traditional philosophical concerns. "Experimental philosophy" explores philosophical judgments by conducting experiments on people's intuitions about philosophically important concepts. Research in experimental philosophy already spans a wide range of areas of philosophy, including ethics, semantics, metaphysics, the study of consciousness, the philosophy of language and of science, and freedom of the will, and this work has also attracted the attention of a much broader network of philosophers. Experimental philosophy has grown rapidly over the last several years, but evaluating, conducting, and teaching work in experimental philosophy requires skills that are not currently part of normal professional training for philosophers. The proposed Institute is designed to enable participants to engage experimental philosophy as teachers, practitioners, and critics. In 2009, we held an NEH