Philosophical Methodology: The Armchair or the Laboratory? - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415531322 ISBN 13: 9780415531320

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

What methodology should philosophers follow? Should they rely on methods that can be conducted from the armchair? Or should they leave the armchair and turn to the methods of the natural sciences, such as experiments in the laboratory? Or is this opposition itself a false one? Arguments about philosophical methodology are raging in the wake of a number of often conflicting currents, such as the growth of experimental philosophy, the resurgence of interest in metaphysical questions, and the use of formal methods.

This outstanding collection of specially-commissioned chapters by leading international philosophers discusses these questions and many more. It provides a comprehensive survey of philosophical methodology in the most important philosophical subjects: metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, philosophy of science, ethics, and aesthetics.

A key feature of the collection is that philosophers discuss and evaluate contrasting approaches in each subject, offering a superb overview of the variety of methodological approaches - both naturalistic and non-naturalistic - in each of these areas. They examine important topics at the heart of methodological argument, including the role of intuitions and conceptual analysis, thought experiments, introspection, and the place that results from the natural sciences should have in philosophical theorizing.

The collection begins with a fascinating exchange about philosophical naturalism between Timothy Williamson and Alexander Rosenberg, and also includes contributions from the following philosophers: Lynne Rudder Baker, Matt Bedke, Greg Currie, Michael Devitt, Matthew C. Haug, Jenann Ismael, Hilary Kornblith, Neil Levy, E.J. Lowe, Kirk Ludwig, Marie McGinn, David Papineau, Matthew Ratcliffe, Georges Rey, Jeffrey W. Roland, Barry C. Smith, Amie L. Thomasson, Valerie Tiberius, Jessica Wilson, and David W. Smith.

About this title

Review:

"... few books gather so many top thinkers to explain and compare methodologies. Haug has edited a fascinating volume, asking 20-plus contributors for in-depth reflections about their areas of expertise. ... Both nonphilosophers and philosophers will benefit from these engagements. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - CHOICE

"Authored by an outstanding assembly, this collection covers issues of methodology as they arise in the main subfields of philosophy. Anyone who reads it will be brought to the cutting edges." - Ernest Sosa, Rutgers University, USA

"Matthew Haug has assembled a first-rate collection on a timely and important topic. Any reader interested in questions of methodology in the Anglo-American philosophical tradition will find this volume to be brimming with insights." - Tamar Szabo Gendler, Yale University, USA

"This star-studded collection of original essays breaks new ground in the lively debate about how we do philosophy. For the first time, the problems raised by the nature of philosophical methods are examined separately for each of the main areas of philosophy. Highly recommended!" - Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburgh, USA 

About the Author:

Matthew Haug is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the College of William and Mary, USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0415531322
• ISBN 13: 9780415531320
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Haug Matthew