Clearing Away Assumptions Through Philosophy and Research

• In Event: Philosophical Inquiry and Empirical Research

Abstract

This paper illustrates one way in which philosophical inquiry and empirical research can be combined to explore central human processes. Over the past twenty years, my empirical work in classrooms and communities has drawn on philosophical discussions about how knowledge is interconnected with social relationships and how we should conceptualize multiple interrelated levels of explanation. Both empirical research and philosophy can be done in various ways, and in this paper I offer no comprehensive account of how the two relate. I focus instead on one central goal of my work⎯to reveal and clear away assumptions that commonly limit our view of central human processes, like social identification and learning, and to offer alternative conceptualizations that open new pathways for thought and action. In pursuing this goal I have drawn on philosophical accounts of knowledge and human relationships and on philosophical methods for interrogating assumptions.

I draw on philosophical resources in at least three ways. First, I have selected the topics of my empirical analyses because of their philosophical implications. Second, in formulating research questions and doing the analyses, I have drawn on philosophical accounts of relevant topics. Third, I have been inspired by systematic philosophical argumentation as I make interpretations and articulate the implications of my findings. Exemplary philosophers insist on clear definitions, consider alternatives and demand explicit grounds for belief. In interpreting my findings I have tried to follow this tradition in some ways. I hope that my empirical analyses also illuminate issues of philosophical concern, also in three ways. First, philosophical arguments often depend on claims about how the world works, and research can substantiate, falsify or complicate such claims. Second, empirical research provides real, complex examples that can help philosophers recognize assumptions. Philosophers often use hypothetical examples, or decontextualized versions of real examples. Sometimes simplicity is useful in an example, when it allows precise formulation of an issue. But complexity can also be philosophically useful. The real world is complex in a way that more typical philosophical examples cannot be, and the presence of unexpected patterns in the world can force us to reconsider assumptions and search for alternative explanations. Third, empirical research can give philosophers new ideas about issues of philosophical concern. Philosophers generate such insights in various ways, including reading philosophical texts, performing thought experiments and engaging in debate, but empirical research provides another useful method. Research on what people actually do can suggest alternative assumptions about fundamental topics, both by asking people for explicit accounts and by revealing tacit patterns in their behavior. Such work can give philosophers a new angle on established problems. Empirical research enriched by philosophical insights and methods can thus combine tools from both traditions to clear away unproductive assumptions and advance our understandings of human activity.

Author

• Stanton Wortham, University of Pennsylvania