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.

摘要

心理特征能预测哲学观点吗？我们对由 David Bourget 和 David Chalmers 创建的 PhilPapers 调查进行了管理，该调查包含 30 种关于核心哲学主题（例如，认识论、伦理学、形而上学、心灵哲学和语言哲学）的观点，并针对专业哲学家（N = 314)。我们扩展了 PhilPapers 调查，以衡量许多心理特征，例如个性、计算能力、幸福感、生活方式和生活经历。我们还包括这些观点的非技术“翻译”，以最终用于其他人群。我们发现对个性或人口统计预测哲学观点的观点没有任何支持。然而，我们确实发现一些心理特征可以预测哲学观点，即使经过多重比较的严格校正。调查结果包括：对数学预测的物理主义、自然主义和结果主义的更高兴趣；较低水平的幸福感和较高水平的精神疾病预示着硬决定论；使用致幻剂和大麻等物质预测道德和美学的非现实主义和主观主义观点；具有变革性或自我超越的经历预示着有神论和理想主义。我们讨论这些实证结果是否具有哲学意义，同时注意到我们的专业哲学家样本中有 68% 表明这些发现确实具有哲学价值。使用致幻剂和大麻等物质预测道德和美学的非现实主义和主观主义观点；具有变革性或自我超越的经历预示着有神论和理想主义。我们讨论这些实证结果是否具有哲学意义，同时注意到我们的专业哲学家样本中有 68% 表明这些发现确实具有哲学价值。使用致幻剂和大麻等物质预测道德和美学的非现实主义和主观主义观点；具有变革性或自我超越的经历预示着有神论和理想主义。我们讨论这些实证结果是否具有哲学意义，同时注意到我们的专业哲学家样本中有 68% 表明这些发现确实具有哲学价值。