The psychology of philosophy: Associating philosophical views with psychological traits in professional philosophers
Philosophical Psychology April 27, 2021 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2021.1915972 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Personality and demographics do not predict philosophical views, but certain psychological traits do. Philosophers with higher numeracy tend toward physicalism, naturalism, and consequentialism. Lower well-being and more mental illness predict hard determinism. Use of psychedelics or marijuana predicts non-realist and subjectivist views on morality and aesthetics. Having had a transformative experience predicts theism and idealism. 68% of the 314 professional philosophers surveyed said these empirical findings have philosophical value.
Study at a glance
| Design | observational survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 314 |
| Population | professional philosophers |
| Key finding | Psychological traits such as numeracy, well-being, 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.