Topics Philosophy

Question What evidence, other than reason and logic, does a philosophical claim require? What research, if any, is the philosopher obliged to do?

Accepted:
December 30, 2010

Comments

Great question! The answer will depende on the type of philosophical claim. So, in philosophy of science, presumably a philosopher will employ the history of science, appeal to current scientific practices and discoveries, and consider a host of issues and arguments that may be relevant --these may include appeals to moral experience and ethical theories, appeals to ordinary experience or phenomenology and so on. Concerning the latter, if a philosopher is considering a claim about human nature that denies the existence of consciousness (as some have), then the philosopher may seek to reply by appealing to what it appears that we all know in our first-person experience. Galen Strawson has done (in my mind) an excellent job in exposing the difficulties of denying consciousness (as has John Searle, Thomas Nagel, and others). The point I am trying to make with regard to philosophy of science will also be true to philosophy of art (evidence for claims may involve appeals to the history of art, etc) and all domains of philosophy of X (when X stands for history, politics, and so on). Some schools of philosophy will appeal more to languagae and conceptual clarity (analytic philosophy) while some philosophers seem to give greater weight to experience than language (this is the case in the 20th century movement of phenomenology).

As an aside, your question might be called a question in meta-philosophy because you are asking a question about the philosophy of philosophy! And the whole debate today on the concept of "evidence" is often described in terms of disagreements over "evidentialism" --the thesis that all justified beliefs of a person must be supported by sufficient evidence that the person can (to some extent) appreciate. "Evidentialism" is sometimes contrasted with reliabilism, the idea that justified beliefs are simply those that are reliable, whether or not the subject appreciates the evidence supporting them.

Question What evidence, other than reason and logic, does a philosophical claim require? What research, if any, is the philosopher obliged to do? Accepted:December 30, 2010

Question What evidence, other than reason and logic, does a philosophical claim require? What research, if any, is the philosopher obliged to do?

Accepted:
December 30, 2010