Experimental philosophy movement explores real-life dilemmas

A University of North Carolina press release reports on a new book about experimental philosophy – a field that seems pertinent for climate questions: Imagine a business executive who thinks: “I know that this new policy will harm the environment, but I don’t care at all about that – I just want to increase profits.” Is the business executive harming the environment intentionally? Faced with this question from a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill philosopher, 82 percent of people polled said yes. But then UNC scholar Joshua Knobe changed the word “harm” to “help.” This time, the executive thinks: “I know that this new policy will help the environment, but I don’t care at all about that – I just want to increase profits.” Is the business executive helping the environment intentionally? This time, only 33 percent of respondents said yes.

These are the sorts of questions posed in a new movement called experimental philosophy, where scholars leave their armchairs to talk to people directly about how they form their opinions and values. A new book by Knobe and University of Arizona philosopher Shaun Nichols being published this month is the first volume to discuss the controversial approach that is challenging conventional notions about the discipline.

“Experimental Philosophy” (Oxford University Press), edited by Knobe and Nichols, brings together seven “greatest hits,” considered the most influential papers in experimental philosophy. It also includes several provocative new papers, including an introductory chapter by Knobe and Nichols, “An Experimental Philosophy Manifesto.”

…Studies like the one involving the business executive and the environment can help get at the roots of philosophical debates, Knobe said. “Experiments like these are beginning to suggest that people’s ordinary way of understanding the world is suffused through and through with moral considerations.”

“This sort of research is important not only for its philosophical implications but also for what it tells us about how people ordinarily think,” Knobe added. “The more we know about how people make moral judgments, the more we will be able to understand how people come to blame each other and enter into conflict.”…

A flowchart of consensus-based decision-making, created by Grant Horwood (aka "frymaster"), Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2