X-Phi Project

At the University College Groningen, Lieuwe Zijlstra teaches the Experimental Philosophy Project. This is a project that students at UCG can choose during the second year of their Liberal Arts & Sciences bachelor. 

During the project, students undertake an interdisciplinary research project in teams combining research questions and methodology in philosophy with those in the empirical social sciences. The research projects also have a strong societal component. 

In the past years, the experimental philosophy projects had different themes: The good life, personal identity, happiness, meaning in life, moral objectivity, moral decision-making, moral enhancement, free will, dualism, consciousness, esthetics, and so forth. 

On the basis of these themes, students have developed different deliverables over the years: Documentaries, literature reviews, research articles, research proposals, workshops, policy proposals, and much more.

The Experimental Philosophy project gives students with an interest in experimental philosophy the opportunity to experience what research in this field entails and to get a deeper insight into the topic of their own choosing.