- This event has passed.
Conceptual Engineering Seminar: Talk by Mirela Fuš on “The Nature Question of Philosophical Engineering”.
16th October 2018 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Navigation
Abstract
A growing group of philosophers has recently taken up and extended Carnap’s project of explication, which “consists in transforming a given more or less inexact concept into an exact one or, rather, in replacing the first by the second” (Carnap 1950: 3). In contemporary philosophical methodology, projects descending from Carnap’s project of ‘explication’ (I dub them DCE Projects) go by different names, some of the most prominent being ‘conceptual engineering’ (see Blackburn (1999), Brandom (2001), Chalmers (2011), Scharp (2013), Eklund (2014, 2015), Cappelen (2018)), ‘conceptual ethics’ (see Burgess and Plunkett (2013)), ‘ameliorative projects,’ ‘analytical projects’ (see Haslanger 1999, 2000, 2006) and ‘revisionary projects’ (see Railton 1989, 1993, Scharp 2007, 2013).
In this paper, I work towards answering the Nature Question for DCE Projects: “What do DCE Projects have in common?” First, I formulate three challenges to those trying to answer the Nature Question: one Terminological Challenge and Two Unity Challenges: (i) “Engineering” Unity Challenge and (ii) “Philosophy” Unity Challenge. Second, I address the Terminological Challenge. In particular, I look at some terminological commitments and argue for the introduction of a descriptively adequate field unifying term ‘philosophical engineering.’ Third, I address the Two Unity Challenges by answering the Question A: “What makes philosophical engineering philosophical?” and the Question B: “What makes philosophical engineering engineering?” Finally, I conclude that addressing the Unity Challenges shows that DCE Projects are (possible) instances of Philosophical Engineering.