Conceptual Analysis

Conceptual analysis is a philosophical method for building philosophical understanding of some entity. It begins with identifying philosophical truisms (self-evident truths) and then proceeds to compare and reconcile these with other philosophical truisms, with the goal of eventually forming a “comprehensive truistic description” of the entity. See Shapiro (2011, 13-15). We will discuss conceptual analysis in Class 2.

Conceptual Analysis Entries

When writing conceptual analysis entries, you will receive a prompt asking you something like, “Is A right to say that X is true?,” where X is a claim about concepts and how they relate to each other.  Your journal entry should contain your thoughts and various arguments relevant to determining whether X is really true. Ideally you will reach a conclusion here, because the Unit Essay will build on this and other entries in your Philosophical Journal. 

Example

For example, imagine our reading makes the claim that “nature is intrinsically valuable,” and the prompt asks you whether you think this is true. Here we have two different concepts: “nature” and “intrinsically valuable.”

You might start with thinking about self-evident truths about nature. Maybe nature is that which exists free of interference by humanity. Perhaps it is something else, but imagine we think of a few reasons that convince us this definition is true. For example, we might point out the dichotomy between the “natural” and “artificial,” where the “artificial” is something created by or interfered with by humans. If that is right, then the dichotomy suggests that the natural (and so nature) is something that has not been interfered with by humans. What would this definition entail? For example, it seemingly includes things like mountain ranges and Bald Eagles; but it also includes things like viruses and mosquitoes.

Then we might examine the concept of intrinsic value. What does this mean? If something has intrinsic value, perhaps that means something like we have to respect it and can’t treat it as something whose value can’t be made entirely contingent on human purposes. Then we might ask: do we really have to treat things like viruses and mosquitoes as things we have to respect? We can imagine how this question might lead us to think that nature is not intrinsically valuable, since we intuitively believe (for example) that we can kill viruses or mosquitoes if they interfere with our purposes. On the other hand, different understandings of the relevant concepts might lead us to a different conclusion. The idea is for you to consider what you know to be true about the relevant concepts—either from readings and class or from your own intuitions—and to use those building blocks to answer the prompt and (ultimately) to build a more comprehensive truistic picture of our relationship to the environment.

Assessing Conceptual Analysis Entries

Conceptual Analysis Entries are designed to help you think through a problem in an informal way. Accordingly, the criteria for these entries are a bit more relaxed than Unit Essays. These entries are assessed on the basis of three elements: 

1. Is the bulk of the entry focused on answering the question in the prompt? 
2. Does the entry reach a conclusion to this question? 
3. Does the entry show familiarity with the class materials referenced in the question (either lectures or readings)?