[Insert Prompt for Title Here]: Executive Writing and AI-Mediated Philosophy
TL;DR
It is argued that using LLMs in philosophical writing does not simply strengthen or weaken the tasks, skills, and methods involved in philosophical research; rather, it reorganizes them, potentially combining the displacement of established abilities with the emergence of new practices.
Abstract
Abstract This paper explores the contours of AI-mediated philosophy by engaging with both enhancement and diminishment accounts of LLM use from an interactionist perspective. It argues that using LLMs in philosophical writing does not simply strengthen or weaken the tasks, skills, and methods involved in philosophical research; rather, it reorganizes them, potentially combining the displacement of established abilities with the emergence of new practices. The article is divided into two parts. The first part expands the “cognitive enhancement versus cognitive diminishment” debate to consider the potential impact of LLMs on philosophical elaboration (Section 1), introducing the concept of “executive writing” and the fictional case of “Eyde & Second Thought” (Section 2). The second part highlights two core practices elicited by executive writing, analyzing the cognitive reorganization they entail: prompting, conceived as a way of thinking (Section 3), and supervising, understood as a meta-authorial practice (Section 4). Finally, the conclusion addresses the institutional and educational conditions under which LLMs may be incorporated into philosophical research.