Senior Thesis in Philosophy: "Do Biases in Thought Experiments Render Experimental Philosophy Useless?"
For my senior thesis in philosophy I decided to examine the methodology behind experimental philosophy. I became really intrigued by the ex-phi (as experimental philosophy is called) movement in a seminar I took fall semester of my junior year called Intuitions and Philosophy. I noticed that the methodology of experimental philosophy was encroaching upon that of the social sciences, such as psychology and sociology and wanted to determine whether or not it’s an appropriate methodology for philosophy as well. I spend a majority of my paper outlining various biases that are inherent in the implementation of thought experiments. These biases can be caused by many different factors, including the wording of a thought experiment, how the thought experiment affects our brain, in our natural desire to want to uphold a reputation or a certain self-image and even in an individual’s previous experiences. I argue that these biases prevent philosophers from being able to gain an accurate understanding of normative philosophical claims based on the data obtained by thought experiments. However, despite my attack on the current use of thought experiments, I do not argue that philosophers should discontinue the experimental philosophy movement. By trying to create thought experiments and frame old philosophical questions in a new light, philosophers have been able to make significant advancements on topics such as knowledge, free will, moral responsibility, etc. that would otherwise remain stagnant. For example, Edumud Gettier, in his paper published in the 1960’s entitled, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” was able to significantly challenge Plato’s definition of knowledge as a justified true belief. Plato’s definition was widely accepted and rarely challenged for hundreds and hundreds of years. By creating a thought experiment, Gettier was able to challenge such a definition. Overall, I really enjoyed doing this research and I hope to continue examining experimental philosophy and the use of thought experiments.
Writing this paper taught me a lot about how people think and how susceptible people are to biasing influences, even ones in which one has no control over. This research can be applied to the field of education because a student’s test scores will reflect more than just his basic understanding of the material. Even something as miniscule as the name used in a word problem can evoke unique feelings in each individual, causing one to approach the problem differently and the different feelings can even cause one to choose a different answer. Also, evoking one’s stereotype before taking an exam can have a big influence on the way one performs on an exam. For example, a study done by the psychology department at Harvard University showed that “Asian-American women performed better on a mathematics test when their ethnic identity was activated, but worse when their gender identity was activated, compared to a control group who had neither identity activated” (Shih, Pittinsky, & Ambady). Because it is generally believed that Asians possess better quantitative skills, the Asian-American women performed better on a math test when they were reminded of their ethnicity compared to when they were reminded of their gender because it is a cultural stereotype that females have inferior quantitative skills compared to males. Thus, by acknowledging certain identities right before taking a test, the identity will be more prevalent in the person’s mind and can emerge to make a difference in answers. This is something that the teacher doesn’t always have control of or even knows is happening because the stereotype activation could have happened before the child arrived at school at home or even in the playground. Thus, writing my thesis taught me to be aware of many contextual factors in education settings, such as priming and framing, that can subtly sneak into a classroom if the proper precautions are not taken.
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