• A cartography of philosophy's engagement with society

    Author(s):
    Diana Hicks, J. Britt Holbrook (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Group(s):
    HuMetricsHSS, Philosophy, Public Philosophy Journal, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Science Studies and the History of Science
    Subject(s):
    Research--Evaluation, Philosophy
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Research Excellence Framework, Field Philosophy, Transdisciplinary Practice, Altmetrics, Humanities metrics, Research impact
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/s4b7-dj80
    Abstract:
    Should philosophy help address the problems of non-philosophers or should it be something isolated both from other disciplines and from the lay public? This question became more than academic for philosophers working in UK universities with the introduction of societal impact assessment in the national research evaluation exercise, the REF. Every university department put together a submission describing its broader impact in case narratives, and these were graded. Philosophers were required to participate. The resulting narratives are publicly available and provide a unique resource permitting a more comprehensive, empirically based consideration of philosophy’s influence outside the academy than has hitherto been possible. This paper takes advantage of this to develop a taxonomy of the ways in which philosophers engage society in their work. We identify five approaches: dissemination, engagement, provocations, living philosophy, and philosophy of X. We compare these along the six dimensions proposed by Frodeman and Briggle to characterize the ideal field philosopher. We conclude that there are multiple ways of being a field philosopher, which vary in their emphasis. This pluralism bodes well for the expansion of philosophy's societal influence, since there are routes available to suit different preferences. Keywords: philosophy, public value, REF, impact case narratives
    Notes:
    This is a preprint of a manuscript we hope to have published soon.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
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