The psychology of philosophy: Associating philosophical views with psychological traits in professional philosophers
Philosophical Psychology April 27, 2021 DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2021.1915972 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA survey of 314 professional philosophers found that personality traits and demographics do not predict philosophical views, but some psychological traits do. Higher numeracy predicted physicalism, naturalism, and consequentialism. Lower well-being and higher mental illness predicted hard determinism. Use of psychedelics and marijuana predicted non-realist and subjectivist views on morality and aesthetics. Transformative or self-transcendent experiences predicted theism and idealism. 68% of the philosophers surveyed indicated that such empirical findings have philosophical value.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 314 |
| Population | Professional philosophers |
| Keywords | Psychology Philosophy |
| Citations | 31 |
| Key finding | Psychological traits such as numeracy, well-being, mental illness, substance use, and transformative experiences predict certain philosophical views, while personality and demographics do not. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Do psychological traits predict philosophical views? We administered the PhilPapers Survey, created by David Bourget and David Chalmers, which consists of 30 views on central philosophical topics (e.g., epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language) to a sample of professional philosophers (N = 314). We extended the PhilPapers survey to measure a number of psychological traits, such as personality, numeracy, well-being, lifestyle, and life experiences. We also included non-technical ‘translations’ of these views for eventual use in other populations. We found limited to no support for the notion that personality or demographics predict philosophical views. We did, however, find that some psychological traits were predictive of philosophical views, even after strict correction for multiple comparisons. Findings include: higher interest in numeracy predicted physicalism, naturalism, and consequentialism; lower levels of well-being and higher levels of mental illness predicted hard determinism; using substances such as psychedelics and marijuana predicted non-realist and subjectivist views of morality and aesthetics; having had a transformative or self-transcendent experience predicted theism and idealism. We discuss whether or not these empirical results have philosophical implications, while noting that 68% of our sample of professional philosophers indicated that such findings would indeed have philosophical value.