PHIL111 HM - Empirical and Experimental Philosophy

Credit(s): 3

Instructor(s): Staff

Offered: Spring

Description: To what extent is philosophy grounded on or informed by empirical observation and experimentation? To what extent ought it be so? To explore these questions, this course will make stops at important moments in the history of philosophy—such as Descartes’ armchair philosophizing and Carol Gilligan’s interviewing women about morality—on its way to the present movement called “experimental philosophy,” wherein philosophers conduct experiments similar to those in cognitive and social science in order to address philosophical questions. Students will learn how philosophers think about intuitions and the roles they play in grounding and challenging theories in ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, etc. In addition, students will explore important intersections between philosophy and science, such as the emergence of neurophilosophy and moral psychology in the 20th century. The armchair isn’t going anywhere, but neither is the question of which methods of inquiry, namely those empirically informed, are part of the philosopher’s toolkit in addressing diverse questions about mind, knowledge, and morality.

HSA Course Area(s): Philosophy
HSA Writing Intensive: No