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HOW TO USE INTUITIONS IN PHILOSOPHY
by
Brian Talbot
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PHILOSOPHY)
December 2009
Copyright 2009 Brian Talbot
Object Description
| Title | How to use intuitions in philosophy |
| Author | Talbot, Brian |
| Author email | btalbot@usc.edu; philosophy@bigfatgenius.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Philosophy |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2009-07-24 |
| Date submitted | 2009 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2009-09-01 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Van Cleve, James |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Levin, Janet Vihvelin, Kadri Finlay, Stephen John, Richard S. |
| Abstract | Intuitions currently play a central evidential role in much of the practice of philosophy. There are, however, a number of concerns raised about this role. Some have claimed that intuitions are intuitions are in no way good evidence; others, that they are evidence about only a limited range of (mostly mental) phenomena. I argue that these are empirical claims, and that the proper way to evaluate them is to come to an understanding of what intuitions are, how they are generated, and what factors affect them. Further, I argue that this should be based on a systematic, empirically-founded theory of the general operation of our unconscious minds. This means that an evaluation of philosophical methodology is intertwined with an understanding of psychology and cognitive science. I present the outlines of such a theory based on a synthesis of a wide range of psychological research; in so doing I engage with several current debates in psychology and cognitive science about issues including the innateness of knowledge, mental modularity, unconscious intelligence, and the structure of our concepts. Our intuitive faculties are, it turns out, a good source of data – better in many ways than our conscious minds – about certain domains of philosophy, but not all. This means that philosophers generally, no matter their interests, should look to a psychologically informed understanding of the mind to see if intuitions will be good evidence in their research, and also to see the pitfalls and biases intuitions about their topic might succumb to. To illustrate this process, I consider the application of intuitions to specific questions in epistemology and the metaphysics of causation. |
| Keyword | intuitions; philosophy; psychology; reflective equilibrium; a priori; methodology; unconscious |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2579 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Talbot, Brian |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Talbot-3190 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume29/etd-Talbot-3190.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | HOW TO USE INTUITIONS IN PHILOSOPHY by Brian Talbot A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHILOSOPHY) December 2009 Copyright 2009 Brian Talbot |
