Table Of ContentExamining Philosophy Itself
METAPHILOSOPHYSERIESINPHILOSOPHY
SeriesEditorsArmenT.MarsoobianandEricCavallero
The Philosophy of Interpretation, edited by Joseph Margolis and Tom
Rockmore(2000)
GlobalJustice,editedbyThomasW.Pogge(2001)
Cyberphilosophy:TheIntersectionofComputingandPhilosophy,editedby
JamesH.MoorandTerrellWardBynum(2002)
Moral and Epistemic Virtues, edited by Michael Brady and Duncan
Pritchard(2003)
TheRangeofPragmatismandtheLimitsofPhilosophy,editedbyRichard
Shusterman(2004)
The Philosophical Challenge of September 11, edited by Tom Rockmore,
JosephMargolis,andArmenT.Marsoobian(2005)
GlobalInstitutionsandResponsibilities:AchievingGlobalJustice,editedby
ChristianBarryandThomasW.Pogge(2005)
Genocide’s Aftermath: Responsibility and Repair, edited by Claudia Card
andArmenT.Marsoobian(2007)
Stem Cell Research: The Ethical Issues, edited by Lori Gruen, Laura
Gravel,andPeterSinger(2008)
CognitiveDisabilityandItsChallengetoMoralPhilosophy,editedbyEva
FederKittayandLiciaCarlson(2010)
VirtueandVice,MoralandEpistemic,editedbyHeatherBattaly(2010)
Global Democracyand Exclusion, edited by Ronald Tinnevelt and Helder
DeSchutter(2010)
Putting Information First: Luciano Floridi and the Philosophy of Informa-
tion,editedbyPatrickAllo(2011)
ThePursuitofPhilosophy:SomeCambridgePerspectives,editedbyAlexis
Papazoglou(2012)
PhilosophicalEngineering:TowardaPhilosophyoftheWeb,editedbyHarry
HalpinandAlexandreMonnin(2014)
ThePhilosophyofLuck,editedbyDuncanPritchardandLeeJohnWhit-
tington(2015)
CriticismandCompassion:TheEthicsandPoliticsofClaudiaCard,edited
byRobinS.DillonandArmenT.Marsoobian(2018)
ConnectingVirtues:AdvancesinEthics,Epistemology,andPoliticalPhilos-
ophy,editedbyMichelCroceandMariaSilviaVaccarezza(2018)
Philosophy as a Way of Life, edited by James M. Ambury, Tushar Irani,
andKathleenWallace(2020)
ExaminingPhilosophyItself,editedbyYafengShan(2023)
Examining Philosophy Itself
Edited by
Yafeng Shan
Thiseditionfirstpublished2023
Chaptersandbookcompilation©2023MetaphilosophyLLCandJohnWiley&SonsLtd,
FirstpublishedasMetaphilosophyvolume53,nos.2-3(April2022).
RegisteredOffice
JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK
EditorialOffices
350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA
9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK
TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK
Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformationabouthowtoapply
forpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeourwebsiteatwww.wiley.com.
TherightsofYafengShantobeidentifiedastheauthoroftheeditorialmaterialinthisworkhavebeen
assertedinaccordancewiththeUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,or
transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,withoutthepriorpermissionof
thepublisher.
Wileyalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronicformats.Somecontentthatappearsinprintmay
notbeavailableinelectronicbooks.
Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarks.Allbrand
namesandproductnamesusedinthisbookaretradenames,servicemarks,trademarksorregistered
trademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.Thepublisherisnotassociatedwithanyproductorvendor
mentionedinthisbook.
LimitofLiability/DisclaimerofWarranty
Whilethepublisherandeditorshaveusedtheirbesteffortsinpreparingthisbook,theymakeno
representationsorwarrantieswithrespecttotheaccuracyorcompletenessofthecontentsofthisbook
andspecificallydisclaimanyimpliedwarrantiesofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticularpurpose.Itis
soldontheunderstandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedinrenderingprofessionalservicesandneither
thepublishernortheauthorshallbeliablefordamagesarisingherefrom.Ifprofessionaladviceorother
expertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofacompetentprofessionalshouldbesought.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDatahasbeenappliedfor.
9781394160716(paperback)
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Coverimage:©JamesWarwick/GettyImages
CoverdesignbyWiley
Setin10/11ptTimesNewRomanMTStdbyStraive,Chennai,India
1 2023
CONTENTS
NotesonContributors vii
Introduction:TheUnexaminedPhilosophyIsNotWorth
Doing 1
YAFENGSHAN
Part1: DefendingPhilosophy 9
1 MetametaphysicsandSemantics 11
TIMOTHYWILLIAMSON
2 PhilosophyDoesn’tNeedaConceptofProgress 29
YAFENGSHAN
3 T-Philosophy 43
CHRISDALY
Part2: HowtoDoPhilosophy 61
4 OntheContinuityofMetaphysicswithScience:Some
ScepticismandSomeSuggestions 63
JACKRITCHIE
5 InDefenseofOrdinaryLanguagePhilosophy 89
HERMANCAPPELENANDMATTHEWMCKEEVER
6 TestingandDiscovery:RespondingtoChallengestoDigital
PhilosophyofScience 111
CHARLESH.PENCE
vi CONTENTS
7 AttentionalProgressbyConceptualEngineering 133
EVEKITSIK
8 ThePhilosophyofLogicalPractice 151
BENMARTIN
9 OnePhilosopher’sModusPonensIsAnother’sModusTollens:
PantomemesandNisowir 175
JONWILLIAMSON
10 LinkingPerspectives:ARoleforPoetryinPhilosophical
Inquiry 203
KARENSIMECEK
Part3: DoingPhilosophy 221
11 GroundingInterventionism:ConceptualandEpistemological
Challenges 223
AMANDABRYANT
12 ImpossibleWorldsandtheSafetyofPhilosophicalBeliefs 253
ZACKGARRETTANDZACHARIAHWRUBLEWSKI
Index 277
NOTESONCONTRIBUTORS
Amanda Bryant is an independent scholar with an interest in metaphilo-
sophy, metametaphysics, the epistemology of metaphysics, and the meta-
physics of science and scientific metaphysics, as well as naturalism and
scientism. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the City University
of New York Graduate Center in 2017, after which she held a fixed-term
assistant professorship at Trent University and a postdoctoral research
fellowshipattheUniversityofLisbon.
Herman Cappelen is professor of philosophy at the University of Hong
Kong,directoroftheAI&HumanityLab,andtheauthorofelevenmono-
graphsandmorethanfiftyarticlesacrossarangeofphilosophicaltopics.
HeiscurrentlyworkingonthephilosophyofAIandengineeringofpoliti-
caldiscourse.HismostrecentbooksareMakingAIIntelligible,cowritten
with Josh Dever (OUP, 2021), and The Concept of Democracy: An Essay
onConceptualEngineeringandAbandonment.
ChrisDalyisaprofessorofphilosophyattheUniversityofManchester.His
researchinterestsareinphilosophyofscienceandphilosophyoflanguage,
andheistheauthorofIntroductiontoPhilosophicalMethods(Broadview
Press,2010)andPhilosophyofLanguage(Bloomsbury,2012).
ZackGarrettteacheslogicandphilosophyatExcelsiorClassicalAcademy
in Durham, North Carolina. He received his Ph.D. from the University
of Nebraska—Lincoln in 2020, and his research interests include topics
that lie at theintersections betweenmetaphysics, philosophy of language,
and logic. He is particularly interested in nonclassical logics and argues
in his dissertation that a many-valued logic is the best way to handle the
phenomenonofvagueness.
EveKitsikisavisitingresearcherattheUniversityofCologneinGermany.
Shehaspublishedmainlyonmetametaphysicsandconceptualengineering,
in such journals as Erkenntnis, Synthese, and Philosophia. Her current
viii NOTESONCONTRIBUTORS
research interests include epistemic value and the ethics of attention.
BeforeCologne,shewasajuniorresearchfellowattheUniversityofTartu
inEstonia.
Ben Martin is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of
Padua.Beforethat,hewasaMarieSkłodowska-CurieFellowattheUni-
versity of Bergen and the principal investigator for the European Union
Horizon 2020–funded project The Unknown Science: Understanding the
Epistemology of Logic Through Practice. He works mainly in the philos-
ophyoflogicandepistemology,andhaspublishedinsuchjournalsasthe
AustralasianJournalofPhilosophy,theJournalofPhilosophicalLogic,and
Synthese.
Matthew McKeever is postdoctoral research fellow in the AI&Humanity
LabattheUniversityofHongKong.Hisrecentpublicationsincludework
onsocialandpoliticalphilosophyoflanguageandphilosophyoftechnol-
ogy,andhisresearchinterestsincludephilosophyoflanguageandmetaphi-
losophy broadly construed, particularly their applicability to contempo-
raryAIandothernoveltechnologies.
Charles H. Pence is chargé de cours at the Université catholique de
Louvain, in Louvainla-Neuve, Belgium, where he directs the Center for
PhilosophyofScienceandSocieties(CEFISES).Hisworkcentersonthe
philosophy and history of biology, with a focus on the introduction and
contemporaryuseofchanceandstatisticsinevolution.Hislabalsoheavily
utilizes methods from the digital humanities and is increasingly engaged
intheethicalimplicationsofbiologicalscienceandtechnology.
JackRitchieisanassociateprofessorintheDepartmentofPhilosophyat
theUniversityofCapeTown.Hemainlyworksonissuesinthephilosophy
of science, metaphysics, and metaphilosophy and is the author of Under-
standingNaturalism(Routledge,2008)andseveraljournalarticles.
YafengShanisaresearchfellowinepistemologyintheDepartmentofPhi-
losophyattheUniversityofCologne,Germany.HereceivedhisPh.D.from
UniversityCollegeLondon,andhismainresearchinterestsarephilosophy
ofscience,epistemology,andmetaphysics.HeistheauthorofDoingInte-
grated History and Philosophy of Science: A Case Study of the Origin of
Genetics(Springer,2020)andhaspublishedresearcharticlesinsuchjour-
nalsasSynthese,PhilosophyofScience,andPhilosophyCompass.
KarenSimecekisanassociateprofessorofphilosophyattheUniversityof
Warwick.Herresearchfocusesonthephilosophyofpoetry,philosophyof
voice,andtheemotions.ShehaspublishedarticlesonpoetryintheBritish
