RE: Philosophy Versus Science
August 23, 2025 at 7:42 pm
(This post was last modified: August 23, 2025 at 7:52 pm by GrandizerII.)
I just read through the study. I think it treated the central question of whether philosophical education cultivates intellectual abilities and dispositions/virtues quite well.
The researchers accounted for the obvious self-selection bias by adjusting the baseline differences on SAT tests and Habits of Mind and Pluralistic Orientation scales through well-accepted statistical models. The researchers acknowledged that the students who scored higher on the latter two scales and on SAT Verbal (before/at the very start of college) were more likely to be philosophy majors, but as stated earlier, this was accounted for. And philosophy majors ended up scoring higher than other majors on the LSAT and GRE Verbal and later completions of the Habits of Mind scale (which assessed various intellectual virtues such as intellectual rigour and humility and curiosity). They did remarkable on Pluralistic Orientation (which assesses something like open-mindedness) but did not score the highest mean there (they were the sixth highest). However, when it comes to quantitative aspects, they did not do so well compared to other majors.
The tendency for only the brightest philosophy majors to take the LSAT or the GRE was also examined, and they did not find any statistical evidence that this would have mattered to the validity of this study. By the way, the LSAT and GRE tests were treated separately.
It wasn’t a true experimental study, but this wouldn’t have been possible or ethical anyway. And the sample size was quite large anyway. So overall, it was a well done study.
The researchers accounted for the obvious self-selection bias by adjusting the baseline differences on SAT tests and Habits of Mind and Pluralistic Orientation scales through well-accepted statistical models. The researchers acknowledged that the students who scored higher on the latter two scales and on SAT Verbal (before/at the very start of college) were more likely to be philosophy majors, but as stated earlier, this was accounted for. And philosophy majors ended up scoring higher than other majors on the LSAT and GRE Verbal and later completions of the Habits of Mind scale (which assessed various intellectual virtues such as intellectual rigour and humility and curiosity). They did remarkable on Pluralistic Orientation (which assesses something like open-mindedness) but did not score the highest mean there (they were the sixth highest). However, when it comes to quantitative aspects, they did not do so well compared to other majors.
The tendency for only the brightest philosophy majors to take the LSAT or the GRE was also examined, and they did not find any statistical evidence that this would have mattered to the validity of this study. By the way, the LSAT and GRE tests were treated separately.
It wasn’t a true experimental study, but this wouldn’t have been possible or ethical anyway. And the sample size was quite large anyway. So overall, it was a well done study.
