Experimental philosophy

Philosophical argument and analysis often makes use of thought experiments and the appeal to intuition. A view may be motivated or challenged by considering the judgements elicited by a range of scenarios or through the appeal to our everyday understanding of a concept.

Experimental philosophy or 'x-phi' is recent development in philosophy. It employs the methods of experimental psychology and cognitive science to study intuitions. A number of philosopher are now running systematic experiments aimed at understanding how people ordinarily think about the fundamental or foundational issues in philosophical analysis - for example, knowledge, meaning, ethical value, free will.

Have a look at:

The experimental philosophy blog

Jonathan Phillips' blog

Bristol University's experimental philosophy page