Philosophers as Conceptual Engineers

In this second lecture, Amie L. Thomasson builds on her earlier critique of recent analytic metaphysics to propose an alternative: metaphysics reconceived as conceptual engineering. She says that philosophers can do something more productive than trying to discover deep truths about reality in competition with the natural sciences. They can assess, revise, and rebuild the concepts and language we use to navigate the world. Thomasson traces this idea through a rich lineage, from Carnap's method of explication to the pragmatists; from Kant, Hume, and Locke to mid-century thinkers like Alice Ambrose, who argued that philosophical disputes often amount to implicit proposals to alter language. The lecture explores what makes concepts break down, how we can evaluate whether they still serve their intended functions, and what it takes to engineer better ones. Thomasson sets the stage for the next lecture by asking how we identify the functions our concepts are meant to serve.