Introduction

Abstract

Experimental philosophy "has rudely challenged the way professional philosophers like to think of themselves", for unlike traditional philosophers, who produce their theories by reasoning alone, the advocates of the new movement are "convinced that [they] can shed light on traditional philosophical problems by going out and gathering information about what people actually think and say." Those were Anthony Appiah's words, describing experimental philosophy for the general public, in 2007. There is no question that experimental philosophy, or X-Phi as it is usually known, a movement that started at the turn of the century, has been a source of controversy. Some philosophers have dismissed it as an inconsequential fad, whose impact on real philosophical theorizing is spurious. For some others, on the contrary, the results brought forward by X-Phi practitioners reveal how misguided the methods used by traditional philosophers are; how unmotivated, and unmotivating, their conclusions.