Philosophical Bootcamp II

Philosophical Methodology

Derek Brown

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/humanities/philosophy/
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401

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Key text

Timothy Williamson 2018 Doing

Philosophy.
• e-book available in library, link
on Moodle

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Common sense

What is it?
• Beliefs you & others around you tend to hold
• We are running out of housing in Glasgow!
• Things you & others around you tend to know
• The Earth is round.

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Common sense

Common sense:
• beliefs are fallible
• knowledge is knowledge, and thus correct
• changes over time
• need not be endorsed by everyone (e.g. there are flat-
earthers and people who had no trouble finding housing)

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Common sense
• Common sense serves as a starting place, or springboard,
for most intellectual discussions.
Why?
• Because they are commonly held.
• Philosophical discussions often begin with something
from common sense.
• However, just as often they diverge from them.

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Common sense
• Common sense serves as a check, or means of
evaluating, conclusions made in many intellectual
discussions.
Why?
• We should keep track of what’s been discarded.
• Philosophical conclusions are often assessed against
common sense.
• However, there is dispute over the importance of this use of
common sense.

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Disputing
• Philosophical discussion typically involves some kind of
dispute:
• P1 defends a claim, P2 challenges that claim.
• The practice of dispute is also crucial:
• Philosophy is about ideas, and dispute is a key means of testing
ideas, hence…
• Philosophy presentations often set aside 45-60 minutes for
discussion.

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Disputing
• Decorum is crucial:
• Open
• Kind
• Helpful/ constructive
• Even-tempered
• And focus on reasons (this cannot be over-emphasized)
Philosophers don’t always achieve this, but we have improved a
great deal and work at it daily

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Disputing
• Dispute in Q&A = live
• Rewards ‘quickness on one’s feet’ and confidence
• Penalizes persons who think slowly and carefully, and who, for
whatever reason, lack social confidence (in general or in the
moment)
Thus: don’t put too much emphasis on live dispute

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Disputing
• Dispute in writing
• Via email
• Via online discussion (e.g. blog, discussion thread)
• Via publications
Dispute via publications is quite slow, but is extremely valuable,
and perhaps the most important form of dispute.

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Clarifying Terms
• ‘What do you mean by…?’
• I don’t want government impinging on my freedom!
What do you mean by ‘freedom’?
• Freedom to choose?
• Freedom to fulfil desires?
• Freedom to act/do?
:::

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Clarifying Terms
• ‘What do you mean by…?’
• ‘Colours are in the mind?’
• What do you mean by ‘the mind’?
• Brain, spirit, functional system, primitive consciousness
• What do you mean by ‘in’?
• We only think we see colours but there actually aren’t any (fictionalism)
• The mind itself has colours (internalism)

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Clarifying Terms
• ‘What do you mean by…?’
• Ambiguity: a term with two or more meanings where the
context doesn’t pick out which meaning is intended
• Vagueness: a term with ‘fuzzy boundaries’
• Where does red end and orange begin?
• How tall does someone have to be to be a ‘tall person’?
• When does a fertilized egg become a human?

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Thought experiments
• Hypothetical scenarios used to draw out consequences of
a proposal
• Utilize imagination
• Can test your intuitive ideas
• Can test a developed idea or theory
• Often utilized in philosophy (and science!)

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Thought experiments

Trolley Problem
• Trolley is going to run over
5 people
Is it wr
• You can pull lever and make ong to
kill?
trolley only run over 1.
• Do you ‘let’ 5 die or ‘kill’ 1?

• There are various iterations,

think of some…
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 Thought experiments

Mary: Is everything physical?

• Has only seen black & white and grey
• Knows all physical colour facts
• When she finally sees a colour, does
she learn something new?
• Everything is physical, so no!
• Yes, hence not everything is physical!

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Thought experiments
• Imagination is important!
• It’s not just important in in philosophy
• ‘Seeing’ a stick as a ‘tool’ was a monumental intellectual
achievement reached via imagination
• We plan our days by imagining sequences of events to
determine what might be preferable
• Business leaders, politicians, military leaders routinely imagine
scenarios that inform their actions
• People are inspired by imaginings and fear them

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Comparing Theories

Assessing a theory
• Against evidence (e.g. common sense, data)
• Against thought experiments
• Internal reasoning (consistency)
• Comparing with other theories

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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 Deducing

Logic
• The study of inferring something (Q) from something else (P)
• Powerful and important tool in philosophy
• Deductive inference: If P is true then Q must be true.
• Inductive inference: If P is true then Q is likely true.
• Abductive inference: Q is a good explanation of P

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Using History of Philosophy &
Other Fields
History of Philosophy
• “The safest general characterization of the European
philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes
to Plato” Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, p. 39
[Free Press, 1979]
• Lots of ideas in writings of dead people
• Older writings sometimes more focused on ‘big picture’

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Using History of Philosophy &
Other Fields
Other fields
• Psychology
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Economics
• Linguistics
• Biology
• et cetera

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense
• Disputing
• Clarifying terms
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories
• Deducing
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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Model Building
Axiomatic approach to theorizing
• Identify basic rules (e.g. laws of nature or laws of arithmetic)
and work out how they interact
• Very influential in past: e.g. Newton, Maxwell, Einstein

Model-building approach to theorizing

• Helpful where general laws are unavailable or unhelpful

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Model Building
Astronomy
• To study star formation: Assume planets and stars are point-like
masses and distribute them in a ‘flat’ spacetime at random locations.

Economics
• To study inflation: Assume people are rational and maximize their
personal utility/benefit.

We know these assumptions are false but they’re useful for generating
explanations and predictions.

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Model Building
Benefits
• Models can be tweaked
• Can develop different models for same issue and compare
• Can develop different models for different aspects of an issue
(e.g. one for inflation, one for employment)
• Models don’t ‘fail’ because of a counterexample, whereas basic
laws/axioms do.
• Et cetera

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Philosophical Methodology
• Common sense Partial list of loosely defined methods used in
• Disputing analytic philosophy.

• Clarifying terms In practice, you’ll use many in each research

project.
• Thought Experiments
• Comparing Theories Your main ‘move’ or ‘proposal’ will likely rest
on judicious selections from these kinds of
• Deducing procedures.
• Using History of Philosophy
• Using Other Fields
• Model-Building

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