Conceptual engineering: when do we need it? How can we do it?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper addresses several foundational questions in conceptual engineering: When is conceptual engineering needed? When we engage in conceptual engineering, should we think of ourselves primarily as aiming to change concepts or language – and how should we think of either of those? Finally, how is implementing the changes recommended by conceptual engineering possible? I begin by outlining a number of different sorts of circumstances in which conceptual engineering is desirable, bringing out the commonalities across many classic projects in the history of philosophy and contemporary, socially-conscious, work in conceptual engineering. I then argue that some prominent ways of understanding concepts and meanings are unhelpful for conceptual engineering. We can do better if we think first and foremost of engineering words, considering words as a certain kind of abstract cultural artifact, which (like other artifacts) have functions and norms of use. Then we can begin to understand better how words do change naturally, and use that as a way to investigate how they (like other cultural artifacts and social norms) can also be changed artificially.