Method in philosophy and public policy

This chapter contrasts two different methods for linking philosophical reasoning to public policy: ‘applied philosophy’ and ‘engaged philosophy’. Applied philosophy begins with a philosophical theory which it then applies to problems in the real world. Engaged philosophy begins from particular, existing policy dilemmas and applies a variety of philosophical and non-philosophical resources to attempt to reduce the dilemma. The engaged philosophy model is shown to have a number of advantages of the applied model, such as the avoidance of dogmatism, greater sensitivity to historical and empirical factors, and the acceptance that many problems resist simple resolution.