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Does 'philosophical judgment' exist? I studied philosophy at undergrad, and I think I learnt how to judge an argument, not simply as sound or cogent, but "interesting", which arguments are better refuted. Do philosophers talk about this or is it just a basic pedagogical idea?

If the latter, then what does it amount to, simple verbal comprehension coupled with an ability to tell the truth about your intuitions?

If the former, what can I read about it?

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    According to Kant, the faculty of judgment is that of applying rules to cases. If there were a rule for judgment as such, we would need to use judgment to apply the rule to judgment itself, before knowing how to apply that very rule. I suppose with the modern understanding of the difference between lower- and higher-order reasoning, there could be a way around Kant's point, but prime facie his argument seems to illustrate that judgment, while rational, can't be as ruled-based internally as other cognitive processes. Jul 13 at 4:11
  • Then again, he himself did go on to write the third Critique, which while not supplying internal rules for judgment against his prior (first-Critique) thesis, does seem to provide a slew of evaluative criteria involving judgment nevertheless. But his discussion of all these matters in the third Critique is interesting, and since he ties the analysis to reflection on aesthetics, he could think through the aesthetics of arguments themselves (I think he even brings up the notion of things being interesting in this connection). Jul 13 at 4:14
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    you mean: there is no answer (except what judgments we are making) @KristianBerry ? i'm intuitively sympathetic haha if so
    – user66760
    Jul 13 at 4:14
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    particularity of judgments @KristianBerry ? i found this which i think mentions non-doxastic inferences vs "making the inference myself". but in general, there is little on this phrase on google. i probably agree that i cannot say much about judgments i make, e.g. that they are clever or beautiful etc.. other people's judgments, i am less sure about, but that could be about creativity rather than judgment
    – user66760
    Jul 13 at 4:35
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    I think you're on the right track. And perhaps creative judgment is a thing, too, after all. So it might be that discursive commentary about judgment must be used/displayed pedagogically (like a list of exercises in a textbook, though without the kind of set answer sheet that a math test might often be accompanied by). Jul 13 at 4:54

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