Philosophical Method: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #651

by Timothy Williamson

What are philosophers trying to achieve? How can they succeed? Does philosophy make progress? Is it in competition with science, or doing something completely different, or neither?

Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences. He also shows how logical rigour can be understood as a way of enhancing the explanatory power of philosophical theories. Drawing on the history of philosophy to provide a track record of philosophical thinking's successes and failures, Williams overturns widely held dogmas about the distinctive nature of philosophy in comparison to the sciences, demystifies its methods, and considers the future of the discipline.

From thought experiments, to deduction, to theories, this Very Short Introduction will cause you to totally rethink what philosophy is.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Previously published in hardback as Doing Philosophy

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Audiobook

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Heleen.A.H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophical methods: a very short introduction!
By Timothy Williamson
This book is an insightful and informative short introduction to philosophy generally and it’s methodology. It is more useful than any other introductory book to philosophy which begins with history of philosophy!
Philosophy is more than history, it has some basics and methodologies that must be learned and some techniques that have to be grasped. This book shall not be considered as a criterion to such techniques but it will give you an insight about what philosophy is about more than any other introductory books!
It will tell you what u should care about while studying philosophy, and prevent you from reading bad philosophical text or good ones at bad times!
I highly recommend it for beginners!

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020.11.20–2020.11.21

Contents

Williamson T (2020) (04:50) Philosophical Method - A Very Short Introduction

Preface
List of illustrations

01. Introduction

02. Starting from common sense
• Common sense in philosophy
• What is common sense?
• Common-sense questions, philosophical questions
• Common sense as a check on philosophy
• Fallibility about evidence
• The reliability of common sense

03. Disputing
• Two sides of an argument
• Adversarial philosophy
• Logic games
• Box 1 Rules in a logic game
• Dialogues

04. Clarifying terms
• It depends on what you mean
• Concepts and conceptions
• Clarifying and theorizing

05. Doing thought experiments
• Use your imagination
• Thought experiments and real-life experiments
• Knowing by imagining
• Intuition?
• Biases

06. Comparing theories
• Theories of everything
• Testing theories by thought experiment
• Rival theories
• Box 2 Rival theories of mind and body
• Inference to the best explanation

07. Deducing
• Deduction in philosophy and elsewhere
• Validity and soundness
• Abduction in logic and mathematics
• Non-neutral logic
• Logic and philosophy

08. Using the history of philosophy
• Is philosophy history?
• Monuments and influence
• Can the history of philosophy help solve philosophical problems?

09. Using other fields
• History
• Social anthropology
• Linguistics
• Psychology
• Economics
• Computer science
• Biology
• Physics
• Mathematics

10. Model-building
• Models in science
• Models in philosophy
• Box 3 Extensional and intensional semantics
• • Extensional Semantics
• • Intensional Semantics
• Working models, counterexamples, and error-fragility

11. Conclusion: the future of philosophy

References and further reading
Index

[Sinokim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got the necessary information on how the philosophical method works. I can't say that the book goes deeper into philosophical methodology, for why I started reading the book, yet the author does provide further reading and in general the book was helpful at understanding what the philosophical method is.

[Henrik Maler · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the book about?
A neat and recent, little introduction into the toolkit philosophers use to work their way through the conceptual landscape. Ten pages on average does Williamson give himself to present the core of each method: starting from common sense, disputing, clarifying terms, thought experiments, comparing theories, deduction/logic, using the history of philosophy, using other fields and model-building.

Can I recommend it?
Yes, I can but only to those completely unfamiliar with the philosophical method. Since I have been studying philosophy for quite a while now, I expected not to be surprised or inspired. I read it to find out whether I have missed something basic so far. I have not.

What have I learned?
- The sceptic has great power over the philosopher: the latter is unusually open to bizarre possibilities in her interest to explore and search for truth in thought and conversation which the sceptic is ready to exploit
- The philosopher’s job is to clarify concepts
- There are no standard definitions of “set” or “belongs to”/”is part of” (even) in mathematics
- “If we don’t confront [our philosophical theories] with difficult examples, we are not testing our theories properly. We are accepting them uncritically […]” (p. 46)
- Scientists ask general questions, but philosophers ask the most general of all.
- Theories that are random, arbitrary and unnecessarily complicated do not deserve to be taken seriously (e.g. dualism applies on Sunday, and physicalism applies on all other days)
- “In most areas of philosophy, the sort of systematic, deep, general theory to which our understanding most aspires is the least likely to be deducible from obvious premises” (p. 77)
- Philosophers that write precisely but may deal with rather superficial or trivial matters are sometimes criticised for being overcautious, even for intellectual cowardice, unlike those that plunge deep into the conceptual landscape, however, the latter risk to be obscure. To be brave means to lay one’s premises open for attack.
- To solve a problem, it is useful or partly even necessary to study the history of that problem. Nontheless, that does not mean that you are studying the history of philosophy.
- Model-building: Philosophers tend to crude falsificationism. They dismiss a claim once a counterexample has been found. They forget to see the simplifying nature of models which cannot account for every case. “The model-building methodology is much less error-fragile, for it gives no such decisive power to a single judgement. Models are compared over a variety of dimensions.” (p. 125). “It takes skill to distinguish amongst the features of a model those which have lessons to teach us from those which are mere artefacts of the need to keep things simple.” (p. 124)

[Thomas Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute garbage. I swear to God if I have to read another piece of analytic psuedo-philosophy that uses the term, the nonsense-concept "belief" without trying to give a precis of what it means I might actually try to formulate my own version of Hume's fork in depth. But let me give a taut summartion of it.

"That which does not analyse its founding concepts, intutions, premises or inference rules in any depth is not a philosophy, but superstitious quackery dependent upon nothing but the authority of its practitioners (i.e. Oxbridge, Ivy League). Only that which aims to be presuppitionless, aims to be truly a new beginning in thinking and is clearly not question-begging dogshit is philosophy. The former can be cast into the flames, the latter is worthy of our attention."

There dear reader, I have saved you from so much stupidity, from reasoning crooked all your lives.

[Joseph Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good synopsis on the basics of developing a helpful philosophical methodology. Williamson encourages readers to understand that all approaches to learning, justification, and argumentation all come with strings attached. The task of the good philosopher is to recognize this, propose solid theories, test them, and contribute to the public discourse, without thinking your approaches are untouchable. Helpful breakdown of the key terms and principles!

[Nosemonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure there are things to quibble with here - inevitable with something that condenses so many concepts into so short a space - but as an overview this is helpful and thought-provoking. Which is, after all, the point.

[Jonathan Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was a bore. Good parts but had to skip about because of the waffle. Probably just me though.

[Ville Kokko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some VERY good ideas about how philosophical reasoning works and how it should work. Highly recommended.

[Cal Davie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful introduction! It really is a brilliant foundation for those who want to develop philosophical thought. Concise and to the point, does exactly what it says on the tin.

[Tapani Aulu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Erittäin lyhyt johdatus filosofiaan. Ei välttämättä kuitenkaan erityisen antoisa. Tuntui enemmän keskittyvän siihen mitää filosofia ei ole.

[Ahmed Ismail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing journey through the various parts of philosophy

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a bit down on philosophy at the moment. Especially philosophical method.

[Jovany Agathe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophy brings the important questions to the table and works towards an answer. It encourages us to think critically about the world; it is the foundation of all knowledge and when utilized properly, can provide us with huge benefits.

[Marco Innamorati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro chiarissimo ma per niente banale, scritto da uno dei massimi filosofi contemporanei. Può essere usato come introduzione alla filosofia contemporanea ma anche lettori già smaliziati troveranno spunti: non tutti sanno cos’è l’abduzione o cos’è l’ipotesi dello zombie di Chalmers.