Field Philosophy

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Field philosophy is a branch of, or perhaps better said, an alternative to applied philosophy that positions philosophy within live social contexts. Practitioners of field philosophy are encouraged to begin philosophy not at the level of first principles, but at the policy level; engaged on projects with the general, non-philosophic public. While traditional disciplinary philosophy emphasizes the theoretical significance of epistemology, ethics, logic, political philosophy, philosophy of language, and others, it typically attends to these qualities at a distance, offering written analyses of problems that are published in philosophy journals to be read solely by other professional philosophers. In contrast, field philosophers operate in a wide variety of interdisciplinary and non-academic settings. Furthermore, field philosophy works with scientists, engineers, policy-makers, and stakeholders groups at the project level over lengthy periods of time. In short, field philosophy seeks to position philosophy in the thick of public debates.

Rather than an outright challenge to traditional philosophic practices, field philosophy should be seen complementing rather than in opposition to other forms of practical philosophical inquiry. For instance, disciplinary philosophers (aka ‘philosophers’) think with and write for other philosophers; and applied philosophers write about real-world issues for other professional philosophers and often publish in disciplinary journals. Field philosophers work on real-world projects—for and with the people engaging those issues. Further, field philosophy does not apply a theory developed from the proverbial armchair, but rather works through the philosophical issues in a particular situation in a context-sensitive and bottom-up way.

interdisciplinary non-traditional approach

According to Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle, field philosophy has five general characteristics:

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|- It seeks to help excavate articulate, discuss and assess the philosophical dimensions of real-world policy problems.

|- It pursues case based research at the meso-level, beginning with problems as defined and contested by the stakeholders involved.

|- The primary audience for its work consists of non-disciplinary stakeholders faced with a "live" problem. The knowledge generated is produced in the context of use.

|- There is no "method", unless that term is understood in terms of rules of thumb, pluralism, sensitivity to context, and a bottom-up orientation.

|- In terms of evaluation, it uses context-dependent standards and non-disciplinary metrics for assessing success, defined in the first instance by stakeholders.

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Practice, theory, and challenges

Robert Frodeman et al., argue that the increasing marketization of the university renders the humanities, and philosophy in particular, extremely vulnerable to loss in funding. Therefore, the futurity of philosophy departments in increasingly economically animated universities necessitates that philosophy, like the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, promote itself as 'engaged' in the production of quantifiable goals.

Beyond concerns about funding, field philosophy represents a response to a long standing philosophic question: What is the relationship between philosophy and the polis? Philosophy has often been criticized for insufficient attention to "real world" and practical problems. In practice, field philosophers who are engaged with the general public or other academic disciplines on a project provide an account of the generally philosophical components which warrant attention. These might include; ethical, aesthetic, epistemological, ontological, metaphysical and theological aspects of societal problems. Beyond this, Field Philosophers can function as unifying agents between other disciplines; providing a broad overall narrative to the structure of the problem and possible solutions

The theoretical implications of field philosophy emerge in post-project analysis. Rather than trying to produce universal knowledge, conference presentations and journal articles by Field Philosophers investigate the theoretical limitations of the discipline of traditional philosophy and offer strategic, methodological, and procedural accounts of successful Field Philosophy efforts. Field Philosophy offers both a critique of the traditional separation of disciplines as well as a practical how-to discourse for doing Field Philosophy. Field Philosophers engage with other Field Philosophers to share their findings, successes, and failures in order to continuously develop a working model of Field Philosophy.

Michelle Bastian raises concerns that field philosophy's need to develop a new philosophic methodology conjures up some complex problems. She suggests that while field philosophy is an attempt to overcome some of the more restrictive elements of disciplinary philosophy, it can present as a "disturbing" force which cannot co-exist with traditional ideals about things like universal knowledge, first principles, and what constitutes the philosophical. She challenges idea that field philosophy can be complementary to traditional philosophic practices. Field philosophy necessarily considers elements of scholarship which are not within the immediate purview of disciplinary philosophy, such as time, place, and context dependent circumstances. As such, it is difficult for the field philosopher not to end up being housed in interdisciplinary departments, rather than philosophy departments. In short, she says that while the field philosopher might venture into the field, they may not be welcomed back when they return to the roots of the discipline.

Examples of field philosophy

The Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program hosted in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve on the southern tip of Chile consists of a mix of university students, faculty, professors, scientists, policy makers, and philosophers, working to draw attention to the significance of conservation and biodiversity, including the sociological and cultural elements of ecology. The program offers students of natural science and philosophy the opportunity to study together abroad in Cape Horn; to participate in the efforts there to re-construe the theoretical framework connecting habitats (where we live), habits (how we live), and inhabitants (who we are). The program is designed to transcend and investigate intercultural as well as international borders and boundaries with particular attention to ecosystemic thinking.

In 2015, Adam Briggle, a philosophy professor at the University of North Texas, successfully led a citizens' initiative to ban hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking) in Denton, Texas. By working with local activists, scientists, engineers, legislators, and industry representatives, Briggle helped facilitate the discussion surrounding the decision which culminated ultimately in a county-wide vote to ban fracking. His book, entitled A Field Philosopher's Guide to Fracking: How One Texas Town Stood Up to Big Oil and Gas, details his experience.

Additional resources

https://philosophyimpact.org/

http://chile.unt.edu/

Socrates Tenured: The Institutions of 21st Century Philosophy. Frodeman, Robert, and Adam Briggle. 2016. London: Rowman & Littlefield.

A Field Philosopher's Guide to Fracking: How One Texas Town Stood Up to Big Oil and Gas. Briggle, Adam. 2015. New York NY: Liveright.

Notes and references

This article "Field Philosophy" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Field Philosophy. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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