Survey Results

Concepts: nativism or empiricism?

Population

AOS

Region

for

Exclude answers beyond respondent's first 50

Include skip/insufficiently familiar answers

858 respondents

What the percentages mean: "Accept or lean toward P: 50% (40%)" means that 50% of respondents endorsed this answer inclusively (including multiple-answer endorsements) and 40% endorsed this answer exclusively (excluding multiple-answer endorsements).

These results should not be used for comparison to 2009 results due to different populations and parameters. For meaningful longitudinal comparisons, see the longitudinal analysis section.

Collapse accept and lean towards

Accept or lean towards:
nativism

28.09% (23.31%)

Reject or lean against:
nativism

0.70% (0.00%)

Accept or lean towards:
empiricism

50.35% (45.10%)

Reject or lean against:
empiricism

0.58% (0.00%)

Accept a combination of views

6.53%

Accept an alternative view

5.01%

The question is too unclear to answer

7.46%

There is no fact of the matter

1.05%

Agnostic/undecided

10.84%

Other

0.70%

N = 858, excluding skipped & insufficiently familiar (267 respondents)

Alternative Views

56 target respondents indicated that they accept or lean toward an alternative view. The words used in their responses cluster as follows. These results are not filtered by AOS, region, etc.

INNA (6): innate (6)
KANT (4): kantianism (4)
DEPE (4): depends (4)
PLUR (3): pluralism (3)
PRAG (3): pragmatism (3)
BOTH (3): both (3)
HIST (3): historical (2) historicism (1)

Longitudinal comparison to 2009 survey

This question was not in the 2009 survey

Strongest correlations with main questions (target population)

r: -0.38	Knowledge: empiricism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	76	119
Reject	291	115

n: 601

p < 0.0001

r: 0.3	Abstract objects: Platonism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	138	85
Reject	141	286

n: 650

p < 0.0001

r: 0.29	Metaontology: heavyweight realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	95	70
Reject	95	171

n: 431

p < 0.0001

r: -0.28	Spacetime: relationism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	52	81
Reject	141	105

n: 379

p < 0.0001

r: 0.27	A priori knowledge: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	211	25
Reject	328	144

n: 708

p < 0.0001

r: 0.23	Meaning of life: objective
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	99	104
Reject	128	273

n: 604

p < 0.0001

r: 0.23	Propositional attitudes: representational
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	121	59
Reject	137	171

n: 488

p < 0.0001

r: 0.22	Moral judgment: cognitivism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	184	36
Reject	298	143

n: 661

p < 0.0001

r: -0.22	Laws of nature: Humean
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	51	172
Reject	169	257

n: 649

p < 0.0001

r: 0.22	Propositions: structured entities
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	89	77
Reject	107	193

n: 466

p < 0.0001

r: -0.21	Metaontology: anti-realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	12	151
Reject	53	213

n: 429

p < 0.0001

r: 0.21	Consciousness: dualism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	78	120
Reject	66	304

n: 568

p < 0.0001

r: 0.21	Philosophical methods: intuition-based philosophy
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	142	87
Reject	217	260

n: 706

p < 0.0001

r: 0.2	Cosmological fine-tuning: design
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	48	124
Reject	41	249

n: 462

p < 0.0001

r: -0.2	Propositions: nonexistent
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	21	144
Reject	67	233

n: 465

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Hard problem of consciousness: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	147	51
Reject	224	166

n: 588

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Properties: transcendent universals
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	56	116
Reject	42	246

n: 460

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Science: scientific realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	206	28
Reject	338	114

n: 686

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Truth: correspondence
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	157	61
Reject	240	198

n: 656

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Well-being: objective list
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	119	53
Reject	170	178

n: 520

p < 0.0001

r: 0.18	Method in history of philosophy: analytic/rational reconstruction
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	135	44
Reject	209	146

n: 534

p < 0.0001

r: -0.18	Metaphilosophy: naturalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	98	112
Reject	267	147

n: 624

p < 0.0001

r: -0.18	Well-being: hedonism/experientialism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	16	156
Reject	69	279

n: 520

p < 0.0001

r: -0.18	Abortion: permissible
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	161	53
Reject	361	54

n: 629

p < 0.0001

r: 0.18	Aesthetic value: objective
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	136	81
Reject	187	238

n: 642

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Units of selection: genes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	73	54
Reject	124	134

n: 385

p: 0.0006

r: -0.17	Mind: physicalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	105	115
Reject	285	164

n: 669

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Method in political philosophy: ideal theory
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	60	82
Reject	81	204

n: 427

p: 0.0003

r: 0.17	Capital punishment: permissible
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	65	149
Reject	61	348

n: 623

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Morality: non-naturalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	76	127
Reject	77	295

n: 575

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Knowledge claims: invariantism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	88	118
Reject	108	295

n: 609

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Race categories: preserve
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	23	136
Reject	19	320

n: 498

p: 0.0002

r: 0.16	Immortality: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	127	82
Reject	163	236

n: 608

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Response to external-world skepticism: pragmatic
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	31	154
Reject	97	256

n: 538

p: 0.0002

r: 0.16	Meta-ethics: moral realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	174	57
Reject	282	171

n: 684

p < 0.0001

r: 0.16	God: theism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	65	162
Reject	80	385

n: 692

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Law: legal positivism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	38	79
Reject	117	137

n: 371

p: 0.002

r: 0.16	External world: non-skeptical realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	211	18
Reject	382	81

n: 692

p < 0.0001

r: 0.16	Other minds: newborn babies
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	197	14
Reject	339	67

n: 617

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Properties: classes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	14	158
Reject	45	242

n: 459

p: 0.0008

r: -0.16	Personal identity: psychological view
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	95	106
Reject	207	176

n: 584

p: 0.0002

r: -0.16	Statue and lump: one thing
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	53	121
Reject	121	189

n: 484

p: 0.0006

r: 0.15	Continuum hypothesis: determinate
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	56	57
Reject	64	114

n: 291

p: 0.0094

r: 0.15	True contradictions: impossible
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	160	35
Reject	243	100

n: 538

p: 0.0005

r: -0.15	External world: skepticism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	9	220
Reject	39	425

n: 693

p < 0.0001

r: -0.15	Extended mind: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	92	105
Reject	213	152

n: 562

p: 0.0005

r: -0.14	Meaning of life: subjective
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	68	136
Reject	178	222

n: 604

p: 0.0004

r: 0.14	Logic: classical
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	136	52
Reject	212	152

n: 552

p: 0.0007

r: -0.14	Philosophical methods: empirical philosophy
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	132	97
Reject	339	138

n: 706

p < 0.0001

r: 0.14	Sleeping beauty: one-third
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	36	51
Reject	49	106

n: 242

p: 0.0278

r: -0.14	Causation: nonexistent
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	5	177
Reject	16	314

n: 512

p: 0.0015

r: 0.14	Aim of philosophy: truth/knowledge
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	122	99
Reject	199	249

n: 669

p: 0.0003

r: -0.14	Material composition: nihilism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	7	112
Reject	19	178

n: 316

p: 0.014

r: 0.14	Gender categories: preserve
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	60	120
Reject	60	302

n: 542

p: 0.0014

r: 0.14	Politics: capitalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	79	109
Reject	112	250

n: 550

p: 0.0015

r: -0.13	Cosmological fine-tuning: no fine-tuning
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	39	133
Reject	83	207

n: 462

p: 0.0039

r: -0.13	Consciousness: identity theory
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	21	177
Reject	65	305

n: 568

p: 0.0015

r: 0.13	Moral principles: moral generalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	119	77
Reject	185	179

n: 560

p: 0.0017

r: -0.13	Consciousness: eliminativism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	6	192
Reject	27	343

n: 568

p: 0.0016

r: 0.13	Race: biological
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	61	146
Reject	82	354

n: 643

p: 0.0008

r: -0.13	True contradictions: possible but non-actual
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	8	187
Reject	22	321

n: 538

p: 0.0023

r: -0.13	Properties: tropes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	26	146
Reject	56	232

n: 460

p: 0.0052

r: -0.13	True contradictions: actual
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	22	173
Reject	54	289

n: 538

p: 0.0027

r: -0.13	Propositional attitudes: dispositional
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	44	134
Reject	127	180

n: 485

p: 0.0046

r: 0.13	Arguments for theism: design
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	49	130
Reject	59	274

n: 512

p: 0.004

r: -0.13	Belief or credence: credence
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	46	118
Reject	103	194

n: 461

p: 0.0063

r: -0.13	Morality: constructivism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	34	169
Reject	87	287

n: 577

p: 0.0024

r: -0.12	Values in science: necessarily value-laden
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	72	117
Reject	178	205

n: 572

p: 0.0031

r: 0.12	Personal identity: further-fact view
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	51	147
Reject	65	317

n: 580

p: 0.0031

r: -0.12	Well-being: desire satisfaction
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	28	144
Reject	83	266

n: 521

p: 0.0052

r: -0.12	Truth: deflationary
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	46	171
Reject	126	310

n: 653

p: 0.0018

r: -0.12	Other minds: plants
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	8	203
Reject	37	369

n: 617

p: 0.0027

r: -0.12	Propositions: acts
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	10	156
Reject	33	267

n: 466

p: 0.0092

r: -0.12	External world: idealism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	10	219
Reject	36	428

n: 693

p: 0.0016

r: -0.12	Analysis of knowledge: justified true belief
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	47	157
Reject	115	264

n: 583

p: 0.0041

r: -0.12	Gender: social
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	126	81
Reject	307	112

n: 626

p: 0.0032

r: -0.12	Knowledge claims: contextualism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	99	107
Reject	240	166

n: 612

p: 0.0037

r: 0.12	Wittgenstein: early
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	61	128
Reject	83	269

n: 541

p: 0.0064

r: -0.12	Kant: one world
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	65	80
Reject	131	136

n: 412

p: 0.0178

r: -0.12	Experience machine: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	25	195
Reject	76	357

n: 653

p: 0.003

r: 0.12	Justification: nonreliabilist foundationalism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	67	125
Reject	80	270

n: 542

p: 0.0071

r: 0.11	Time: A-theory
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	66	100
Reject	80	214

n: 460

p: 0.0145

r: 0.11	Zombies: metaphysically possible
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	79	142
Reject	106	306

n: 633

p: 0.0042

r: -0.11	Metaontology: deflationary realism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	45	118
Reject	85	181

n: 429

p: 0.022

r: 0.11	Values in science: necessarily value-free
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	44	145
Reject	62	321

n: 572

p: 0.0084

r: 0.11	Practical reason: Kantian
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	45	119
Reject	43	276

n: 483

p: 0.0179

r: -0.11	Arguments for theism: pragmatic
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	20	156
Reject	61	267

n: 504

p: 0.0158

r: -0.11	Properties: nonexistent
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	15	157
Reject	34	253

n: 459

p: 0.0223

r: -0.1	Justification: coherentism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	42	152
Reject	100	251

n: 545

p: 0.0152

r: 0.1	Hume: skeptic
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	71	103
Reject	117	229

n: 520

p: 0.0179

r: 0.1	Gender: biological
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	87	120
Reject	130	285

n: 622

p: 0.0099

r: -0.1	Perceptual experience: sense-datum theory
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	8	175
Reject	24	323

n: 530

p: 0.0176

r: -0.1	Political philosophy: communitarianism
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	53	129
Reject	134	256

n: 572

p: 0.014

r: 0.1	Response to external-world skepticism: abductive
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	63	122
Reject	78	272

n: 535

p: 0.0202

r: -0.1	Race: unreal
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	27	177
Reject	79	347

n: 630

p: 0.0122

r: -0.1	Meaning of life: nonexistent
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	34	170
Reject	98	299

n: 601

p: 0.0148

r: 0.1	Analytic-synthetic distinction: yes
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	175	61
Reject	308	158

n: 702

p: 0.0088

r: -0.1	Possible worlds: nonexistent
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	63	145
Reject	139	254

n: 601

p: 0.0164

r: -0.1	Zombies: inconceivable
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	30	191
Reject	93	320

n: 634

p: 0.0138

r: 0.1	Time travel: metaphysically possible
Concepts: nativism	Accept	Reject
Accept	99	93
Reject	151	207

n: 550

p: 0.0244

Strongest correlations with demographic questions (target population)

r: 0.15	Region of PhD: United States
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	137	44
Reject	215	136

n: 532

p: 0.0007

r: 0.12	Philosopher: Putnam
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	15	180
Reject	11	371

n: 577

p: 0.0044

r: 0.11	Region of nationality: United States
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	132	95
Reject	224	236

n: 687

p: 0.0037

r: -0.11	Philosopher: Wittgenstein
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	12	183
Reject	46	336

n: 577

p: 0.0087

r: 0.11	Philosopher: Descartes
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	14	181
Reject	11	371

n: 577

p: 0.0116

r: -0.1	Region of PhD: United Kingdom
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	14	167
Reject	59	292

n: 532

p: 0.017

r: 0.1	Philosopher: Reid
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	10	185
Reject	6	376

n: 577

p: 0.0174

r: 0.09	Region of affiliation: United States
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	153	87
Reject	260	227

n: 727

p: 0.0106

r: 0.09	AOS: Philosophy of Computing and Information
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	7	227
Reject	5	482

n: 721

p: 0.0138

r: 0.09	AOS: Philosophy of Mind
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	69	165
Reject	99	388

n: 721

p: 0.0178

r: 0.09	AOS: Philosophy of Religion
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	30	204
Reject	38	449

n: 721

p: 0.0221

r: -0.08	Region of nationality: Europe
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	41	186
Reject	105	355

n: 687

p: 0.037

r: -0.08	Gender: female
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	29	207
Reject	91	386

n: 713

p: 0.0413

r: 0.08	AOS: Metaphysics
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	70	164
Reject	111	376

n: 721

p: 0.0422

r: 0.07	AOS: Meta-Ethics
Concepts: nativism	Yes	No
Accept	39	195
Reject	56	431

n: 721

p: 0.0465