The epistemic costs and benefits of collaboration

Don Fallis

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

In " How to Collaborate," Paul Thagard tries to explain why there is so much collaboration in science, and so little collaboration in philosophy, by giving an epistemic cost-benefit analysis. In this paper, I argue that an adequate explanation requires a more fully developed epistemic value theory than Thagard utilizes. In addition, I offer an alternative to Thagard's explanation of the lack of collaboration in philosophy. He appeals to its lack of a tradition of collaboration and to the a priori nature of much philosophical research. I claim that philosophers rarely collaborate simply because they can usually get the benefits without paying the costs of actually collaborating.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)197-208
Number of pages12
JournalSouthern Journal of Philosophy
Volume44
Issue numberSUPPL
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy

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