Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction I: Philosophy and the Perils of Progress 1
Russell Blackford

Introduction II: Philosophy on the Inclined Plane 13
Damien Broderick

Part 1 Roads to Progress in Philosophy 19

1 Coming Out of the Shade 21
Myisha Cherry

2 What has Philosophy Ever Done for Us? 31
James Ladyman

3 Progress and Philosophy 41
Noretta Koertge

4 Only Connect 51
Frank Jackson

Part 2 Bumps in the Road, Rabbits in the Landscape 61

5 Chmess, Abiding Significance, and Rabbit Holes 63
Peter Boghossian and James A. Lindsay

6 Philosophy as the Evocation of Conceptual Landscapes 75
Massimo Pigliucci

7 Three Barriers to Philosophical Progress 91
Jessica Wilson

Part 3 Cautious Optimism 105

8 Is there Progress in Philosophy? A Brief Case for Optimism 107
Daniel Stoljar

9 Is Philosophy Progressing Fast Enough? 119
Stuart Brock

10 Does Philosophical Progress Matter? 133
Richard Kamber

Part 4 Philosophy and Science 145

11 Between Gods and Apes: On the Lack of Scientific and Philosophical Progress 147
Mark Walker

12 Model]Building in Philosophy 159
Timothy Williamson

13 Progress in Philosophy and in the Physical Sciences: How Far Does The Analogy Hold? 173
Christopher Norris

Part 5 Re-Imagining the Conversation 191

14 Philosophy as “Intellectual War of Values” 193
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

15 Re]Imagining the Philosophical Conversation 201
Karen Green

16 David Lewis and the Kangaroo: Graphing Philosophical Progress 213
Benj Hellie

17 Philosophy, Progress, and Identity 227
Ward E. Jones

Index 241

About the Author

Russell Blackford is an Australian philosopher, legal scholar, and literary critic based at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. His many books include Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), Humanity Enhanced: Genetic Choice and the Challenge for Liberal Democracies (2014), and The Mystery of Moral Authority (2016).

Damien Broderick is an award-winning Australian science and fiction writer, editor, and critical theorist, and a former Senior Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. He is the author or editor of some 70 books including, as co-editor with Russell Blackford, Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Artificial Minds (Wiley Blackwell, 2014).

Reviews

"Cogent and worth reading - particularly the essays by Massimo Pigliucci and Jessica Wilson. Also notable is the fine essay by Myisha Cherry, who argues forcefully that philosophers need to "leave the shade" and express their views clearly in accessible public debate. Hear, hear!" - Barbara Ellen Hannan, The Philosopher's Magazine.