Kamber to attend NEH Summer Institute in Experimental Philosophy

Richard Kamber, professor of philosophy and coordinator of the online philosophy laboratory at The College of New Jersey, will participate in a four-week National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute in Experimental Philosophy at the University of Utah. The institute is designed to enable a small number of faculty members from colleges and universities throughout the United States to work closely with leaders in the experimental philosophy movement.

Words by TCNJ's editorial staff

Richard Kamber, professor of philosophy and coordinator of the online philosophy laboratory at The College of New Jersey, will participate in a four-week National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute in Experimental Philosophy at the University of Utah. The institute is designed to enable a small number of faculty members from colleges and universities throughout the United States to work closely with leaders in the experimental philosophy movement.

Experimental philosophy uses methods borrowed from experimental psychology to explore people’s intuitions concerning philosophically important concepts like responsibility, morality, and knowledge. Kamber said research of this kind is provocative because many philosophers regard philosophy as largely an a priori, or “armchair” endeavor—one that is defined by its contrast with empirical work. Kamber, who is working on a book entitled Why Philosophers Can’t Agree, sees experimental philosophy as itself an experiment that might open a new chapter in the history of philosophy and help philosophers reach consensus on the solution to some philosophical problems.