Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities Forum at ACC present: “The Armchair and the Laboratory: Where Shall We Invite Our Students to Do Philosophy?”

Dr. Antonio Ramirez, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Austin Community College

October 8th, 7 pm – 9 pm

Round Rock Campus ACCelerator Multipurpose Room

Free and open to the public

Philosophy in the early 21st century has enjoyed a growing interest in interdisciplinary scholarship, as exemplified by two emerging subfields– ‘Moral Psychology’ and ‘Experimental Philosophy’– that encourage us to inform our philosophical commitments with data gathered via the social sciences. Debate about these subfields has ensued within the philosophical community, focusing primarily on whether their methods constitute a new approach to philosophical investigation, or instead disguise a return to methods widely used in earlier traditions. In this forum I aim to argue that philosophers should indeed attend carefully to issues raised by the increasing popularity of Moral Psychology and Experimental Philosophy, but that their novelty is far from the most salient of these. Of greater relevance to an institution like ACC is the opportunity that these subfields offer us to reconsider the relevance of philosophical inquiry to our students, of the role that philosophy ought to play in the broader college mission, and of the pedagogical strategies likeliest to enhance student learning.