Kindly support my philosophy paper and its (original) ideas

Hello,

My name is Steven, and I have been making (slow but steady) progress on a writing project over recent years.

It would have been a joy to begin writing up my work in progress this month. Sadly though, the time needed to turn these notes into publishable prose is simply beyond what my personal circumstances allow.

With a kind donation towards my project—a philosophy paper—I could finally make a positive contribution to my chosen field. In return, and with heartfelt thanks, I can offer some instructive material for you to browse, resources that may enrich your daily interactions and perhaps inspire.

Thanks for finding your way here and for reading on.

1. Why support philosophy over some other creative project?

In recent times, philosophy has become ever more impactful on our lives and encounters with others. Whether it be misinformation online, the implications of AI (in the workplace and beyond), issues of personal identity, and so on, the Twenty-first century continues to challenge our understanding of such familiar notions as truth, meaning, identity and ethics.

Western philosophy can appear rather remote from our daily concerns, but it has always provided the most informed scrutiny over what it is to be human, and how our thoughts and actions confer meaning on the world.

Throughout the ages, philosophy has been a source of inspiration and rigour for our most treasured writers, artists and scientists. Progress in the philosophy of mind, language and science alone has had a profound (if often unacknowledged) effect on contemporary life.

Supporting rigorous philosophical writing, then, is simply to advocate for a more reasonable and accountable description of who we are and what there is.

2. The Facebook Group to accompany the fundraiser

When preparing this fundraiser, I always had in mind to introduce some interesting philosophical ideas to the reader. This was not to aid understanding of my own paper as such, but to shine a light on the types of reasoning we all use in our everyday affairs.

Whether it be clarifying and revising our pre-existing beliefs, or holding other people's opinions to account, effective reasoning is something that really matters.

I set up the following Facebook group to provide access to this supplementary material:

Philosophy Resources: historical survey and contemporary debate

Posts to this group will primarily be short passages from the authoritative online reference work (as used by the philosophical community itself, and beyond). I have simply edited the entries for length, with no further revisions. Links to the full entries are also provided for your convenience.

I will update the group with further posts and provide reading lists as and when I proceed through the write-up.

It's hoped that the material posted there will capture the revelatory nature of philosophy, without being too demanding of your time.

3. Plans for the paper

The aim has always been to publish Content and Constraint as a stand-alone journal paper, or else to present the completed text as a means to secure funding for a PhD/book. (The paper would then amount to the crucial first chapter of the manuscript).

The ideas proposed in Content and Constraint are, in fact, a departure from my previously published paper—the latter being written before I reached settled views on a whole range of philosophical questions.

Once my paper is completed, the method it describes can then be used to make novel claims about such intriguing notions as existence, consciousness and truth.

4. So what's genuinely original about Content and Constraint?

To make a positive claim about something often involves denying credible alternatives. But what resources are we entitled to use when making general claims about who we are and what the world consists in?

Choosing a certain pattern of reasoning—an inference—is itself a kind of methodological commitment from the outset. Whether we like it or not, there's no intuitive 'starting line' for the pursuit of philosophy.

Content and Constraint investigates how we can so much as begin to make claims about those phenomena we experience and those we do not.

From these initial considerations, I reach a particular result which, in turn, amounts to a new form of reasoning. In short, Content and Constraint describes the conditions for an alternative approach to philosophy.

Since that's a rather bold claim to make, it is probably a good thing to say a little more here.

5. Some further detail about Content and Constraint (...that some may want to skip!)

Over the centuries of philosophical inquiry, there have been four common ways to advance claims about the way things are. The most familiar of these is perhaps the notion of 'explanation', where (roughly) a conclusion is reached about how some fact was able to occur.

'Inference to the Best Explanation' is unique among these arguments as it can corral seemingly unconnected content to serve as reasons for its conclusion.

(For more on 'inference', please see the Argument and Argumentation post in the Facebook group.)

In Content and Constraint, I arrive at a similar kind of procedure in that unrelated content leads to a principled inferential outcome. On the other hand, that outcome could not be considered an 'explanatory conclusion', but something else.

The pattern of inference I propose, then, differs in its logical structure from the four common types of argument. Nonetheless, it will be apt for making rational philosophical claims.

6. How a kind donation would make a big difference

With the cost of living recently being so high, and mindful about the impact this has had on all of us, I plan to use any generous funds I might receive only on those days I'm actually sitting down to write.

It doesn't feel quite right for a thoughtful doner to fund anything other than the project itself. My approach, then, will involve taking time out each week to make steady progress on the paper—rather than writing full-time—whilst paying for everything else.

Subsequently, each section of the paper will take around four weeks to complete; and as the campaign target indicates, a sum of £85 per week would suffice to cover all the hours devoted to completing the paper.

There would also need to be two weeks of intensive research, unfortunately, before I can write up the crucial fifth section. I tried hard to complete this research before posting the fundraiser online, but due to personal commitments, this has just not been possible. (For those interested, the research involves Bayesian theories of explanation among some other recent developments in this field.)

7. A summary of contents

Here's a brief overview of the paper, the full title of which is, “Content and Constraint: toward a work on method”.

Some of the familiar terms below will acquire more precise use within the paper itself.

Section One:

Section Two:

Section Three/Four:

Section Five/Six:

Thank you for taking the time to read these words.

Whether you're someone who enjoys seeing creative ideas flourish, has an interest in how the paper itself hangs together, or are just curious about the material posted to the Facebook group, a kind donation to my project would help me tremendously.

Perhaps you work or study within the field of philosophy and appreciate an attempt to broaden its appeal somewhat—your support would be gratefully received.

It's been a pleasure to write something so public about my (belated) paper after all this time!

If you were kindly able to share this fundraiser with friends, family and colleagues that would really make a difference.

Cheers, Steven