Experimental Philosophy

Experimental philosophy, as outlined in this volume,1 is a new approach to philosophical inquiry that seeks to investigate the nature of knowledge, morally responsible action, and other such philosophically interesting phenomena – not, as traditional analytic philosophers would have it, by consulting one's own ‘intuitions’ (i.e. what we’d be inclined to say or think) about whether Gettier cases or trolley scenarios represent instances of these phenomena, but by doing systematic experimentation on what people of different backgrounds, cultures, or educational levels would spontaneously say about such cases, and on whether subtle variations in the descriptions of the cases can significantly influence those verdicts. In their introductory ‘manifesto’ that begins this volume, Knobe and Nichols note that traditional philosophers’ reactions to experimental philosophy have been ‘polarized’, but argue that all philosophers should embrace this approach, since it can reveal information about the sources of our intuitions and the factors that may distort them, and thus provide more reliable data for philosophical theory. Indeed, they argue that experimental philosophy represents not a break with tradition, but a return to the ‘questions … that animated Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Hume, Nietzsche, and so many others … ’ (14). Following this ‘manifesto’ are nine chapters that display experimental philosophy in action (2–9, 11), and two chapters (10, 12) that provide an overview and critical evaluation of this new (or perhaps not so new) approach to philosophical investigation.