Experimental Philosophy

Announcement: Character as Moral Fiction

This evening, I sent my book manuscript, Character as Moral Fiction, to Cambridge University Press to begin production.  Here's a draft of the cover:

While the book doesn't cover new experimental results of mine, it's very empirically informed, so I'd be grateful for the feedback of folks on this blog.  Here's a link to the manuscript, which I'll leave up while the book is in production.

Another French X-Phi Book

For those who are interested in the international diffusion of experimental philosophy, I wanted to signal the recent publication of a second french book dedicated to experimental philosophy : Ruwen Ogien's L'Influence de l'Odeur des Croissants Chauds sur la Bonté Humaine, et autres questions de philosophie morale expérimentale. It's mainly about moral philosophy (trolley problems and all the stuff) and it also includes under the label "moral experimental philosophy" the work of situationist psychologists.

Here's a fun excerpt I translate to share with you:

The idea to run experiments about behaviour to confirm hypotheses about "human nature" is nothing new.

Kant was very fond of this kind of exercise, for which he probably wasn't very gifted. One of his hypotheses was that a woman would sulk longer if she was told she's old (it's objective) than if shewas told she's ugly (it's subjective).

(It is said that he really tested this hypothesis on his sisters, which, nowadays, would have probably costed him to be pursued for mental cruelty : Louis Ernest Borowski, Reinhold Berhnard Jachmann et Ehrgott André Wasianski, Kant Intime, dir., trad. Jean Mistler, Paris, Grasset, 1985.)

Elements of Moral Cognition

John Mikhail's long-awaited book Elements of Moral Cognition is finally available.  The Rawlsian/Chomskyean line of reasoning explored by Mikhail in his previous research on moral grammar is fully fleshed out in this book, so I expect it to have an immediate and lasting impact on the growing field of moral psychology.

Abstract:

Is the science of moral cognition usefully modeled on aspects of Universal Grammar? Are human beings born with an innate “moral grammar” that causes them to analyze human action in terms of its moral structure, with just as little awareness as they analyze human speech in terms of its grammatical structure? Questions like these have been at the forefront of moral psychology ever since John Mikhail revived them in his infl uential work on the linguistic analogy and its implications for jurisprudence and moral theory. In this seminal book, Mikhail offers a careful and sustained analysis of the moral grammar hypothesis, showing how some of John Rawls’ original ideas about the linguistic analogy, together with famous thought experiments like the trolley problem, can be used to improve our understanding of moral and legal judgment. The book will be of interest to philosophers, cognitive scientists, legal scholars, and other researchers in the interdisciplinary fi eld of moral psychology

In French, it's "Philosophie Expérimentale"

I'm proud to announce the publication of my french introduction to "philosophie expérimentale". It is intended for wide audience and I hope it will contribute turning french philosophers to the dark side (not much hope, though)

Effective Intentions + Free Will and Consciousness

I thought some of you might be interested to know that Al Mele's recent book Effective Intentions is now out in paperback for less than $20.  Relatedly, you might also be interested in the volume Mele co-edited with Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs entitled Free Will and Consciousness:  How Might They Work?  As always, happy reading!

The Moral Psychology Handbook

John Doris's The Moral Psychology Handbook (OUP) is now available.  So, you should check it out.  Here is the description:

The Moral Psychology Handbook offers a survey of contemporary moral psychology, integrating evidence and argument from philosophy and the human sciences. The chapters cover major issues in moral psychology, including moral reasoning, character, moral emotion, positive psychology, moral rules, the neural correlates of ethical judgment, and the attribution of moral responsibility. Each chapter is a collaborative effort, written jointly by leading researchers in the field.

As always, happy reading!

New Book from Tamler Sommers

Tamler Sommers has a new book out, collecting interviews he has conducted with various people doing exciting work in moral cognition. 

As many of you will know, Tamler is not only an insightful philosopher but also an awe-inspiringly good writer and both of those talents are clearly on view here. 

Review of Experimental Philosophy

I recently finished a draft of a review of the book Experimental Philosophy edited by Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols:

http://www.joshdmay.com/wp-content/media/xphi-review.pdf

I’m reviewing it for Philosophical Psychology. I’ll be sending them the final version soon. Feel free to take a look and tell me if there are any blunders! I focus mostly on the opening chapter by the editors and cover some issues that were brought up on the Arche Methodology Project blog (as Jonathan Weinberg mentioned here).

Update: I've revised the draft in light of some of the comments here. Thanks everyone!