Carleton Author

Decker, Jason

Department

Philosophy

Journal Title

Philosophy : the journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Publication Date

2012

First Page

163

Last Page

187

Publisher

The Royal Institute of Philosophy

File Name

081_Jason-Decker_WhenShouldPhilosophersBeSilent.pdf

Abstract

Are there general precepts governing when philosophers should not conduct inquiry on a given topic? When, if ever, should a philosopher just be silent? In this paper we look at a number of practical, epistemic, and moral arguments for philosophical silence. Some are quite general, and suggest that it is best never to engage in philosophical inquiry, while others are more domain – or context – specific. We argue that these arguments fail to establish their conclusions. We do, however, try to identify and defend several substantive constraints on philosophical dialogue and inquiry. In practice, though, respecting these constraints needn’t lead to much philosophical silence.

Rights Management

Carleton College does not own the copyright to this work and the work is available through the Carleton College Library following the original publisher's policies regarding self-archiving. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.

RoMEO Color

Green

Preprint Archiving

Yes

Postprint Archiving

Yes

Publisher PDF Archiving

No

Contributing Organization

Carleton College

Type

Article

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

DOI

10.1017/S0031819112000034

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