Alex Prescott-Couch

Hi all, I'll be giving a talk at the Institute of Philosophy on Thursday in London on "The Politics of Nuance" philosophy.sas.ac.uk/news-events/ev…

This new paper argues that the minor details in social science narratives—often thought scientifically irrelevant—actually enrich social scientific understanding. I’m still thinking through these issues, so thoughts and feedback are very welcome!

The paper is part of a broader project about the interpretive social sciences and builds on a paper about narrative understanding I published last year. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ej…

I’m pleased to announce that my paper "Thick Narratives and the Value of Minor Details" has been published in a special issue of Topoi! link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Hi all, I’ll be speaking at the Aristotelian Society on Monday about Nietzschean genealogy and philosophical methodology. Along the way, I’ll discuss philosophical definitions, reflective equilibrium, and give a few shout-outs to Edward Said. If you’re in London, come by!

The article also builds on some ideas I wrote about in the New Statesmen a few years back newstatesman.com/ideas/agora/20…

The basic question is whether employing narratives in these fields serves anything more than infotainment, particularly since narrative seems a poor vehicle for social scientific explanation.

I'm very happy to report that my paper "Narrative Understanding" is now out at the European Journal of Philosophy! The paper explores the role of narratives in fields like sociology and political science. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ej…

@babette_babich @anitaleirfall Yes; just to be clear, I didn’t mean to imply that philology’s influence on Nietzsche’s thinking is unrecognized (it’s a popular philosophy piece). I learned much from the Benn book and am happy for any further lit recommendations :)

@anitaleirfall @prescottcouch There is a lot on this (I've written on this as has Christian Benne : Nietzsche und die historisch-kritische Philologie degruyter.com/document/doi/1… The author of the Aeon essay understates the case and sacrifices complexity (if for #good reason, i.e., to emphasize moral thinking).

The value of our values When Nietzsche used the tools of philology to explore the nature of morality, he became a ‘philosopher of the future’ | by Alexander Prescott-Couch ⁦(@prescottcouch⁩) #Nietzsche #values aeon.co/essays/nietzsc…

It focuses particularly on Nietzsche’s use of genealogy to reveal internal conflicts in our moral framework—and what that means for how we understand history and culture. Some of the ideas are in a recent piece I published on Nietzsche's genealogy in Mind academic.oup.com/mind/article/1…

Happy to see a piece I wrote on Nietzsche’s genealogy come out at Aeon! It concerns different interpretations of Nietzsche’s genealogical method, as well as how that method relates to philology. aeon.co/essays/nietzsc…

When Nietzsche used the tools of philology to explore the nature of morality, he became a ‘philosopher of the future’ @prescottcouch aeon.co/essays/nietzsc…

@m_j_hannon @Routledge_Phil @EliseWoodard20 Congrats!

Just submitted to @Routledge_Phil for review. Tomorrow, a Greek island.

@EliseWoodard20 By the canal St Martin

I'm happy to share that a recent piece on so-called “Pragmatic Genealogy” is out at Analysis. I discuss some motivations and objections to the approach, as well as how it fits into the broader genealogical tradition academic.oup.com/analysis/artic…

It challenges debunking interpretations of Nietzsche’s genealogy and provides a framework for thinking about the variety of ways that genealogies can serve critical purposes.

I’m late in sharing this, but I’m happy to announce that my article, “Genealogy Beyond Debunking,” is out in Midwest Studies in Philosophy. pdcnet.org/msp/content/ms…

@birchlse Williams had a slightly complicated view about how to mix those kinds of genealogies with actual historical investigation, but what most ppl pick up on is the less historical part of the method, which is basically a way to do functional analysis

@birchlse I’d say both. There are a number of students who are interested in constructing the kind of “state of nature” genealogies you get in Williams and Craig. Those don’t require much historical knowledge

Bernard Williams had a distinctive vision of what ethics could be - the study of the genealogy of ethical concepts in order to shake or bolster our confidence in them - and it surprises me that, for all Williams' influence, virtually no one has taken up that project. (1/2)