Philosophy, Science and Society

Project Proposal for the Research Traineeships Program 2016-2017
1. Project title
Why Can’t We Just Get Along? Three interventions to promote intellectual humility
2. Coordinators
Dr Matteo Colombo
Tilburg University, Department of Philosophy
Dr Piia Varis
Tilburg University, Department of Culture Studies
Dr Mark J. Brandt
Tilburg University, Department of Social Psychology
3. Project Summary
Speaking about intolerance, former President Clinton argued: "We only have one remaining bigotry. We
don't want to be around anybody who disagrees with us." This intolerance towards people with different
attitudes is one barrier that prevents open-minded, intellectually humble dialogue over socially and culturally
divisive issues (e.g., Byrne 1969; Chambers & Melnyk 2006; Wynn 2016). The relationship between
perceived dissimilarity and intolerance is so robust it has been characterized as a psychological “law” (Byrne
& Nelson 1965). Even people with traits and values that are thought to index open-mindedness and protect
against intolerance – such as openness to experience, open-minded cognition, agreeableness, cognitive
ability, universalist values, and political liberalism – show this association (see e.g. Brandt et al 2014, 2015).
That is, people with traits and values thought to contribute to intellectual humility (Davis et al 2016; Spiegel
2012) are intolerant of people with dissimilar attitudes and beliefs. This indicates that there is a clear
psychological barrier to intellectual humility in contentious social debates.
The goals of this project are to test and compare the long and short term effects of interventions aimed at the
reduction of the strong link between dissimilarity and intolerance. In pursuing these goals, we will address
the research question: How should intellectually humble dialogue be promoted? Answering this question
will advance both psychological and philosophical understanding of what intellectual humility is, if it is
possible in contentious debates between diverse parties, and how it can be promoted.
Our research team will collaborate to conduct a study of three interpersonal and intrapersonal intervention
approaches we believe will reduce the dissimilarity-intolerance association (Figure 1).

In a couple of weeks we start again with the tutorials! The first couple of sessions will be given by Jan Sprenger (1 March, topic: rationality and uncertainty), Thomas Boyer-Kassem (15 March, philosophical dimensions of risk) and Bart Engelen (8 April, TBA, but most probably something in political philosophy). You may already mark these days in your agenda!

The default timeslot is on Tuesday from 11:30 to 12:30 (before the Mind/Action class), but we may deviate dependent on the teacher's schedule.

Dear Premaster and Master Students of Philosophy, Science and Society,

In order to increase the popularity of your master program, we (the TiLPS department employees ) need your support. Precisely, we need a couple of testimonies from you, which we can post on the program's website. If you are willing to help, write a small testimony by answering the following questions and send you answers back to us ([email protected]):

1. What is your educational background?
2. Why did you choose Tilburg University?
3. What was the reason to choose your specific Master’s program?
4. What is special about the program?
5. What do you think about the Tilburg University campus and facilities?
6. What are your experiences with the program and Tilburg University so far?
7. What do you think of Tilburg city?
8. What are your career aspirations?
9. What is your date of birth and nationality?

We will select the best testimonials for the website page of the PSS program. You can always check other testimonials by clicking on the following link:

https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/education/masters-programmes/law-and-technology/meet-our-students/interview-master-student-haykush-hakobyan/

So, please send us your testimony and a decent/recent picture.

There will be a prize for each selected testimony.

Thanks in advance for you support. You help is much appreciated.

Have you ever asked yourself - Why do we exist?
http://www.ted.com/talks/jim_holt_why_does_the_universe_exist

Why does the universe exist? Why is there something instead of nothing? In other words: Why does the universe exist (and why are we in it)? Philosopher and writer Jim Holt follows this question toward three possible answers. Or four. Or none.