Philosophy of the City and Transdisciplinary Possibilities

Abstract

Philosophy of the city has increased in popularity over the last decade, emerging as a subfield with multiple research foci. This paper explores it and some of them, showing how some are positioned to influence real-world decisions. It exhibits the pattern behind such works and, in turn, reveals what defines the philosophy of the city as an area of rigorous and socially applicable research. Due to its inherent usefulness for dealing with urban affairs, philosophers of the city could also employ their research findings for other purposes, such as being members of governmental committees, similar to researchers in environmental ethics and the philosophy of technology. Moreover, several philosophy professors have been teaching courses in this area, providing students with the critical-thinking skills to make sense of the city and helping them examine urban life and its numerous dimensions. With this view laid out, the attention turns to the possible future for the philosophy of the city by comparing it to neighboring subfields.