The Future of Philosophy

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Notes on show: Original Airdate 8/1/2006

Topic:	The Future of Philosophy
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Guest:	Elizabeth Harman; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, New York University
	Brian Weatherson; Associate Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University
	Sean Kelly; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University
What is it?	Ken and John discuss the future of philosophy with three rising stars in American philosophy: Elizabeth Harman from New York University, Brian Weatherson from Cornell University, and Sean Kelly from Princeton University. This program was recorded at the American Philosophical Association Meetings before an audience of cranky and opinionated philosophers in Portland, Oregon.

About the Guests

Elizabeth Harman is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and The University
Center for Human Values at Princeton University. Her research interests are
mainly metaphysics and ethics.

Brian Weatherson is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Cornell
University. His interests include political philosophy, aesthetics, applied
ethics, probability, and the history of 20th century philosophy.

Sean Kelly is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University,
and is interested primarily in perceptual experience and its links to
action and thought. He deals with both classical phenomenologists as well
as cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology.

Listening Notes

John and Ken begin by wondering what the future of philosophy will bring.
Will it resemble past sweeping abstract theories or go in new directions?
John and Ken begin by recounting in broad strokes the history of
philosophical ideas, from ideas to transcendentalism to the linguistic turn
in the twentieth century. At each step of the way more questions seem to
have come up tan have been solved, but John thinks that this is good for
philosophy. Ken uses inductive logic to arrive at the conclusion that the
next generation of philosophers will think the twentieth century was full
of mistakes and take their turns of their own.

John and Ken introduce Elizabeth Harman, Brian Weatherson, and Sean Kelly,
three rising stars in American philosophy. First John asks Elizabeth about
the modern state of ethics and whether it has changed since his times as a
graduate student. Elizabeth believes there are lots of interesting things
going on in ethics, but worries that there is too much concern over the
intuition in ethics. Should we rely on our intuitions when arguing about
right and wrong? Elizabeth thinks that intuition can be used in moral
arguments, and that even when intuitions differ they should not be
altogether discounted. John and Ken discuss the ramifications of this view
and what it means for the future of ethics in philosophy, while Brian and
Sean weigh in on intuitions in ethical theory.

Next Ken asks Sean Kelly about cognitive neuroscience and how his studies in
the field of philosophy of mind might relate to intuitions about ethics. He
draws some parallels between intuitions in ethical philosophy and
intuitions about physics, and points out that intuitions are very different
and can be unreliable. Given this fact Ken wonders why in contemporary
philosophy Elizabeth should support the use of intuition. Elizabeth
discusses how the development of technology creates new and interesting
realms of philosophical inquiry and tests for our intuition.

Ken turns to Brian to discuss whether the overspecialization that occurred
in philosophy over the last century will continue into the next, whether
this is a good thing, and whether this specialization and generalization is
a cyclical pattern. Brian seems to think that people will become more
interested in doing interdisciplinary work, and that what has traditionally
been considered philosophy will eventually change. John discusses his
experience seeing many philosophers emerging from different disciplines as
well as many prospective philosophers leaving the field for other pursuits.

John asks Sean Kelly about his interests in both cognitive neuroscience and
phenomenology and what role he thinks philosophy will have in the coming
century. Sean believes that empirical and abstract combinations will become
less strange in the coming years and that in order to really have a clear
idea about the mind and the mental up and coming philosophers should take
seriously results from the fields of neuroscience and psychology.

Many members of the audience of academic philosophers raise issues to John,
Ken and the guests, including what philosophy's role is in modern life,
what there is left to study, and whether or not philosophy is really a
united discipline or a fragmented grouping of very different agendas and
interests, and the security of philosophy as a distinct subject in the
future.

Ian Schoales the 60-second Philosopher (Seek to 4:29): Ian Schoales rips through the history of philosophy at lightning speed, linking together key movements by their essential phrases.

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