Conceptual Engineering: Idea and Problem Field
Natal'ya Viktorovna Kozlova · Voprosy filosofii · 2024
The article analyzes the ideas and methods of conceptual engineering, its goals, problem field and opportunities. Conceptual engineering as a philosophical direction arises at the intersection of descriptive and normative approaches, representing a revisionist strategy. Emphasizing the correlation between science and social life, the developers of the idea draw attention to the need for a conscious attitude to conceptual representation and terminological choice. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the name of the direction: the engineering perspective is associated with the idea of managing the scientific process. Theoretical and methodological origins of conceptual engineering are considered: the ideas of J. Dewey on the development of “conscious thinking”, R. Carnap on explication, S. Haslanger on the importance of a critical attitude towards significant social theoretical constructs. It is shown that conceptual engineering as a revisionist epistemological project is aimed at changing specific forms of social interaction through the revision of current ideas about the world and about oneself. Given the paramount importance of language in organizing everyday intellectual practices, conceptual engineering focuses on concepts and their meaning. In essence, it represents another attempt to eliminate linguistic ambiguity, but no longer with the help of a special symbolic language, but by manipulating meaning and sense. The problems of semantic modifications of concepts associated with semantic drift, linguistic intuition and communication, knowledge transfer are analyzed