2

Can I ask questions about academic/books issues regarding philosophy?

What I mean is can I ask a question not primarily about philosophy but about how philosophy is done in an academic setting meaning an institution where philosophy is taught and research is done? Is it okay to ask such questions or should they be asked on Academia SE?

P.S These questions aren't about philosophy itself, that is, they aren't generally philosophical questions, but they are indirectly focused on the field of philosophy.

Edit: Also meant to imply books in my question... I apologize for not being clear enough, also questions about books, "is book x a good book for y philosopher's view"

Another P.S: If the mods want to close my question for being unclear and for the confusion it caused, please close it, I'm new to meta posts, I'm sorry

  • 1
    I am not sure that I understand what you mean by your phrasing, e.g. "meaning I ask a question not primarily about philosophy but about academic philosophy meaning an academy teaching philosophy." Can you give a specific example? Like, what that sounds like is you want to ask a question about a specific university that has a philosophy department, but that is incredibly vague so there isn't a way to tell whether or not it would be on topic. Are you asking about a specific department or just a school in general that has a department? – Not_Here Sep 1 '18 at 12:39
  • I made an edit to hopefully clarify the question. Please make sure I did not misrepresent what you were trying to say. You may roll this back or continue editing to better clarify the question. – Frank Hubeny Sep 1 '18 at 15:11
  • 1
    Can you give a single example of what the type of question you are asking about really is? – Not_Here Sep 1 '18 at 18:06
  • @Not_Here I'm sorry i couldn't think of such a good question but, since i really had it in mind, questions about philosophy books in academies and in general, could i ask a question about a book of philosophy, not about it's philosophy but about it... – captindfru Sep 4 '18 at 14:57
  • I still am not sure exactly what you mean, can you just give a random example? You said you want to ask "about philosophy books in academies", even if it's not a real example can you just make one up? Like are you asking about questions like "does the University of Oxford own a copy of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations"? Is that the kind of question you mean? I feel like I've asked you for an example multiple times and you still haven't tried to give one so I really am at a loss for what it is you are asking about. – Not_Here Sep 4 '18 at 15:00
  • I should have better clarified... I didn't just mean about academies, i tried to imply books too but I don't know Why I didn't... Anyways... a good example would be like yours or like "Does the university of x teach in y book " but I wanted to also imply books in general so could a question like "Does book x qualify as philosophy/from a professional philosopher's view, is book x philosophically true?" work and be approved as a question on philosophy SE? – captindfru Sep 4 '18 at 16:06
  • 1
    Yes okay thank you for giving an example. Yes, questions like "I am interested in studying Leibniz's view of ontology, what book is a good introduction?" is an acceptable question, that's what we would call a reference request and that is a tag you should use when asking the question. There are many questions like that which have already been asked, try searching for them before you ask to make sure your question hasn't already been answered. – Not_Here Sep 4 '18 at 17:19
  • 1
    Sorry actually I totally misread what you wrote in your comment. Um, I think that you should specifically write what you just said in your question, the "Does book x qualify as philosophy/from a professional philosopher's view, is book x philosophically true?" part. I don't think that a question like "is book x philosophical true" is going to be accepted here, that is a very loaded question and obviously different philosophers will disagree about it. Asking something like "what do philosophers think of x book" or "are the ideas in x book written about by philosophers" is better. – Not_Here Sep 4 '18 at 17:22
  • Uh, Okay @Not_Here, So the questions which I gave were eligible, Thanks for the answer! – captindfru Sep 4 '18 at 17:25
1

I am sometimes curious about how philosophy is done by professional philosophers today and I have asked questions about what professional organizations philosophers belong to and what research tools professional philosophers use.

There are enough professional philosophers on this site who are competent to answer such questions. The answers I received were very helpful and I don't think I would have received the same quality of response if I asked them on Academia SE.

That doesn't mean that any question will survive and remain open. If five people or a moderator vote to close a question it will be closed (although it could be reopened upon revision of the question).

You may have enough reputation to cast such votes yourself. If you don't have that privilege already, it shouldn't take long to get it.

  • Thanks for the great answer, could you specify what you mean by "professional philosophers"? – captindfru Sep 1 '18 at 16:10
  • 4
    @captindfru A professional philosopher would be someone earning at least a part living from doing something related to philosophy perhaps by teaching or writing. These people are often in universities and they have resources available that I would not have such as the ability to join a professional society or access a large library. However, many of the tools they use anyone can use given the internet such as Google scholar to get a formatted reference. – Frank Hubeny Sep 1 '18 at 16:51

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .