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Cross-Disciplinary Research as a Platform for Philosophical Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

STEPHEN J. CROWLEY ,
CHAD GONNERMAN  and
MICHAEL O'ROURKE
STEPHEN J. CROWLEY
Affiliation:
BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
CHAD GONNERMAN
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN [email protected]
MICHAEL O'ROURKE
Affiliation:
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
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Abstract:

It is argued that core areas of philosophy can benefit from reflection on cross-disciplinary research (CDR). We start by giving a brief account of CDR, describing its variability and some of the ways in which philosophers can interact with it. We then provide an argument in principle for the conclusion that CDR is philosophically fecund, arguing that since CDR highlights fundamental differences among disciplinary research worldviews, it can be used to motivate new philosophical problems and supply new insights into old problems. We close by providing an argument by example that uses the epistemology of peer disagreement to establish the potential of CDR for core philosophical areas. With this argument, we aim to demonstrate how the complex research contexts that CDR affords can point the way toward important avenues of epistemological research by highlighting potential limitations of key epistemological components, such as peerage and uniqueness.

Keywords

cross-disciplinary researchresearch worldviewsdisagreementidealizationepistemic peersuniqueness
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , Summer 2016 , pp. 344 - 363
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2016 

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