Experimental Philosophy and Philosophy of language

Experimental philosophy is an approach to philosophical questions that has become popular

over the last decade. Rather than relying solely on the a priori methods utilised by

philosophers in the twentieth century, experimental philosophers advocate the use of

methods borrowed from psychology and cognitive science to empirically investigate

philosophical questions. By carefully examining the intuitions of non-philosophers, or 'the

folk,' this methodology is able to inform on important philosophical debates as it offers a

new source of evidence. Among other things, this kind of data can challenge the status of

commonly held philosophical opinions held by philosophers working in the field.