For Old Questions, New and Better Answers

From Conceptual Engineering to Erotetic Amelioration

Abstract

(This article is part of a project by Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp Philosophy Journal. It is the Authorial Philosophy Dossier, to be published in 2022.) In this paper, I present a position that I call erotetic amelioration, according to which we must evaluate and, eventually, improve our answers to questions of the form “What is x?”. Such a position is offered as an alternative to the idea—sometimes called conceptual engineering—according to which we should evaluate and, eventually, seek to improve our concepts.