Applied philosophy (philosophy from Greek: φιλοσοφία, philosophia, 'love of wisdom') is a branch of philosophy that studies philosophical problems of practical concern. The topic covers a broad spectrum of issues in environment, medicine, science, engineering, policy, law, politics, economics and education. The term was popularised in 1982 by the founding of the Society for Applied Philosophy by Brenda Almond, and its subsequent journal publication Journal of Applied Philosophy edited by Elizabeth Brake. Methods of applied philosophy are similar to other philosophical methods including questioning, dialectic, critical discussion, rational argument, systematic presentation, thought experiments and logical argumentation.
Applied philosophy is differentiated from pure philosophy primarily by dealing with specific topics of practical concern, whereas pure philosophy does not take an object; metaphorically it is philosophy applied to itself; exploring standard philosophical problems and philosophical objects (e.g. metaphysical properties) such as the fundamental nature of reality, epistemology and morality among others.A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017). 3. Applied philosophy is therefore a subsection of philosophy, broadly construed it does not deal with topics in the purely abstract realm, but takes a specific object of practical concern.
Definitions
General definition Due to the recent coinage of the term, the full scope and meaning of Applied Philosophy is at times still quite ambiguous and contentious, but generally does interact with the several other general definitions of philosophy. A Companion of Applied Philosophy provides three introductory articles by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, David Archard and Suzanne Uniacke that outline general definitions and parameters for the field of Applied Philosophy.A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017). 3 - 17.
In the first chapter, Lippert-Rasmussen article “The Nature of Applied Philosophy” begins by unpacking the term “applied philosophy”, outlining that to apply is a verb that takes an object, therefore if one were doing philosophy and not applying it to something then one would be grammatically or conceptually confused to say that one is doing applied philosophy.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 3. Lippert-Rasmussen provides seven conceptions of Applied Philosophy: the relevance conception, the specificity conception, the practical conception, the activist conception, the methodological conception, the empirical facts conception, the audience conception. These definitions are specified in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions, making the different conceptions incompatible with one another.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 15. Lippert-Rasmussen stresses that applied philosophy is much larger than that of applied ethics, therefore applied philosophers should strive beyond just proposing normative moral frameworks, allowing for Applied Philosophy to offer metaphysical frameworks for understanding contemporary results in other sciences and disciplines.
In the third chapter of A Companion of Applied Philosophy, Suzanne Uniacke's article “The Value of Applied Philosophy”, Uniacke outlines that applied philosophy is really a field of philosophical inquiry, differentiating itself from pure philosophy by claiming the former can provide practical guidance on issues beyond the philosophical domain.Uniacke, S., “The Value of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 37. Within applied philosophy there are generally two modes of focus, it can be academically focused (for an academic audience), or it can be in “out-reach mode” (for a non-academic audience).Uniacke, S., “The Value of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 35. In drawing on philosophical subdisciplines such as metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, applied philosophers shape their contributions and analysis on issues of practical concern.Uniacke, S., “The Value of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 40. In this intersection between philosophical theories, principles, and concepts with issues beyond that of the purely philosophical domain (out-reach mode), these problems may give valuable challenges to traditionally accepted philosophies, providing a stress test, feedback or friction on principles that are so often confined within the idealistic philosophical framework.
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen: seven conceptions Relevance conception: Claims that philosophy is applied if and only if it is relevant to important questions of everyday life.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 4. To be clear this conception claims that applied philosophy need not answer the important questions of everyday life, yet it needs to philosophically explore or at least be relevant to them.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 6. There is no requirement on what type of everyday life questions are relevant, it can vary across time and audience, some questions may be relevant to some people at one time and to others at another.
Specificity conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, it addresses a comparatively specific question within the branch of philosophy, e.g., metaphysics, epistemology or moral philosophy, to which it belongs. Establishes philosophical principles to then apply and explore their implications in the applied (non-philosophical) specific domains of inquiry.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 7.
Practical conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, it justifies an answer to comparatively specific questions within its relevant branch of philosophy about what we ought to do.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 8.
Activist conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, it is motivated by an ambition of having a certain causal effect on the world. Whether that causal effect be to educate, elucidate or edify on a given topic, with real world consequences thereof.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 10. As Lippert-Rasmussen points out, much of pure philosophy has quite an impact on the world and yet one would still claim it to be pure rather than applied philosophy, however the distinction of the activist conception lies in their goal, the activist conception has greater emphasis on being an educator and having a causal impact on the world, changing their primary philosophical commitment from “knowledge and truth” to having a causal impact.Brock, D.W. 1987. “Truth or Consequences: The Role of Philosophers in Policy-Making.” Ethics 97(4): 787. The change of commitment and goals may result in the change of methods in order to realize their goal.
Methodological conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, it involves the use of specifically philosophical methods to explore issues outside the narrow set of philosophical problems.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 11.
Empirical facts conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, it is significantly informed by empirical evidence – in particular, that provided by empirical sciences. Stresses the interdisciplinary nature of applied philosophy, characterising applied philosophy as drawing on the results of empirical sciences and the evidence thereof to be sufficiently informed in contributing philosophical analysis and input.Stevenson, L. 1970. “Applied Philosophy.” Metaphilosophy 1(3): 263.
Audience conception: Philosophy is applied if, and only if, its intended audience is non-philosophers.Lippert-Rasmussen, K., “The Nature of Applied Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2017): 5-6. Despite the audience conception not always requiring background knowledge of the given audience, it is prudent for philosophers who are engaging with specific scientific disciplines to be well read on the empirical facts of those disciplines the philosopher addresses, thus re-iterating the value of being empirically informed with the facts, especially when engaging with interdisciplinary studies of philosophy with some other subject.
Applied moral philosophy Applied moral philosophy (or applied ethics) is the branch of moral philosophy concerned with philosophical inquiry into moral issues that arise in everyday contexts and institutional design frameworks (e.g. how social institutions are structured).Arneson, R., “Applied Moral Philosophy,” in A Companion to Applied Philosophy, edited by Lippert-Rasmussen, K., Brownlee, K., and Coady, D. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK (2016): 255-269 Applied moral philosophy involves the use of philosophical theories and methods of analysis to treat fundamentally moral problems in non-philosophical subjects, such as technology, public policy, and medicine.Beauchamp, T., "On Eliminating the Distinction Between Applied Ethics and Ethical Theory." Monist, vol. 67, no. 4 (1984): 514-531. This includes the use of fundamental moral principles and theories to assess particular social practices, arrangements, and norms prevailing in particular societies at particular times. Some key topics in applied moral philosophy are business ethics, bioethics, feminist ethics, environmental ethics, and medical ethics.Dittmer, J., “Applied Ethics”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/applied-ethics/#H7 Beauchamp (1984) notes where applied moral philosophy and theoretical ethics diverge is not in their methodologies, but rather, in the content of their analysis and assessment.