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Issues in Experimental Philosophy: Replication Studies (2019/2020)

Seminarium poświęcone jest problematyce badań replikacyjnych w filozofii eksperymentalnej.

Prowadzący: Mieszko Tałasiewicz, Adrian Ziółkowski

Convenors: Mieszko Tałasiewicz, Adrian Ziółkowski

The social sciences face a replication crisis: attempts to repeat published studies previously regarded as reliable often fail to reproduce their results. The seminar examines how far this problem affects experimental philosophy, which draws its methods from the social sciences.

The first semester provides (1) an introduction to experimental philosophy, (2) an overview of replication methods and (3) a discussion of successful and unsuccessful replications. Topics include failures to replicate Weinberg et al. (2001) and Swain et al. (2008) on extraneous influences on epistemic intuitions, alongside more consistently replicated findings such as Knobe's (2003) side-effect effect and Machery et al.'s (2004) cross-cultural differences in semantic intuitions.

The winter semester covers major replication findings in experimental philosophy and provides basic methodological training in planning and conducting empirical research.

Detailed programme: first semester

BLOCK I: Introduction to experimental philosophy: philosophical intuitions and their role in philosophy

  • Nadelhoffer T., Nahmias E. (2007) The past and future of experimental philosophy, „Philosophical Explorations” 10, 123-149.
  • Knobe, Joshua & Nichols, Shaun (2007) An experimental philosophy manifesto. In Joshua Knobe & Shaun Nichols (eds.) “Experimental Philosophy”, Oxford University Press. pp. 3-14.

BLOCK II: Replication studies: methodological characteristics

  • Brandt M. J., IJzerman, H. Dijksterhuis, A., Farach, F. J., Geller, J., Giner-Sorolla, R., Grange, J. A., Perugini, M., Spies, J. R., van 't Veer, A. (2014) The Replication Recipe: What makes for a convincing replication? “Journal of Experimental Social Psychology” vol. 50, 217-224.
  • Cohen, J. (1992). Statistical Power Analysis “Current Directions in Psychological Science” 1(3), 98–101.
  • Pancholi, B., Dunne, M. & Armstrong, R. (2009) Sample size estimation and statistical power analyses. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265399772_Sample_size_estimation_and_statistical_power_analyses
  • Shelby, Lori & Vaske, Jerry. (2008). Understanding Meta-Analysis: A Review of the Methodological Literature “Leisure Sciences” 30, 96-110.

BLOCK III: Large replication projects in experimental philosophy and psychology

  • Collaboration, Open Science (2015) Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science “Science” 349 (6251).
  • Cova, F., Strickland, B., Abatista, A. et al. (2018) Estimating the Reproducibility of Experimental Philosophy “Review of Philosophy and Psychology” https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-018-0400-9

BLOCK IV: Replications of early experimental philosophy: Weinberg et al. (2001)

  • Weinberg J. M., Nichols S., Stich S. (2001) Normativity and epistemic intuitions, „Philosophical Topics” 29(1-2), 429-460.
  • Seyedsayamdost H. (2015) On Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions: Failure of Replication, „Episteme” 12 (1), 95-116.
  • Kim M., Yuan Y. (2015) No Cross-Cultural Differences in the Gettier Car Case Intuition: A Replication study of Weinberg et al. 2001, „Episteme” 12(3), 355-361.

BLOCK V: Replications of early experimental philosophy: Knobe (2003)

  • Knobe, J. (2003). Intentional action and side effects in ordinary language “Analysis” 63, 190-193.
  • Wright, Jennifer Cole & Bengson, John (2009). Asymmetries in judgments of responsibility and intentional action. “Mind and Language” 24 (1):24-50.
  • Pinillos, N. Ángel ; Smith, Nick ; Nair, G. Shyam ; Mun, Cecilea & Marchetto, Peter (2011). Philosophy’s New Challenge: Experiments and Intentional Action. “Mind and Language” 26 (1):115-139.

BLOCK VI: Replications of early experimental philosophy: Machery et al. (2004)

  • Machery, E., Mallon, R., Nichols, S., & Stich, S. P. (2004). Semantics, cross-cultural style “Cognition” 92(3), B1-B12.
  • Beebe, James R. Undercoffer, R. (2016). Individual and Cross-Cultural Differences in Semantic Intuitions: New Experimental Findings “Journal of Cognition and Culture”16 (3-4): 322-357.
  • Sytsma, J., Livengood, J., Sato, R., & Oguchi, M. (2015). Reference in the land of the rising sun: A cross-cultural study on the reference of proper names “Review of Philosophy and Psychology” 6(2), 213-230.

BLOCK VII: Replications of early experimental philosophy: Swain et al. (2008)

  • Swain, S., Alexander, J., and Weinberg, J. M. (2008) The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions: Running Hot and Cold on Truetemp “Philosophy and Phenomenological Research” 76 (1): 138–55.
  • Ziółkowski, A. (2019) The Stability of Philosophical Intuitions: Failed Replications of Swain et al. (2008) “Episteme”, w druku.

BLOCK VIII: Replications of demographic effects

  • Buckwalter, W., & Stich, S. (2014) Gender and philosophical intuition “Experimental philosophy” 2, 307-346.
  • Seyedsayamdost, Hamid, (2015) On Gender and Philosophical Intuition: Failure of Replication and Other Negative Results “Philosophical Psychology” 28(5): 642–673.
  • Adleberg, Toni, Morgan Thompson, & Eddy Nahmias (2015) Do men and women have different philosophical intuitions? Further data “Philosophical Psychology” 28(5): 615–641.

During the summer semester, students work in teams of two to four to design and prepare an empirical study in experimental philosophy. They conduct the study, analyse and interpret the results, and prepare a research report.