ABOUT

Despite interest in many overlapping theoretical (e.g., cognition, emotion, ethics, identity, epistemology) and substantive (e.g., technology, resource inequality, interpersonal interactions) areas, experimental behavioral research in marketing has only rarely drawn on philosophical thought. We propose that this omission has, first, separated our field from a rich intellectual legacy – one from which we may have a great deal to learn, and to which we may also have useful insights to offer. Second, we have not benefited from widespread application of the philosophical method, which demands critical examinations of focal constructs as well as deep interrogation of assumptions about science, knowledge and belief. This omission may have lent itself to work that is more superficial than we might hope, while also fostering some crises with which our field has been faced. We propose, however, that by integrating philosophical thought and method into our field, we may be able to offer some correctives toward these challenges. We also propose that doing so may help us to identify open grounds for new – and exciting – possibilities for future work.