Experimental Philosophy with alcohol (EPWA) is the study of the philosophical implications of the effects of alcohol.
Mostly EPWA is concerned with the mind/body problem. It allows the truly dedicated philosopher to chart the area seperating and connecting the soul, consciousness, mind, the body and the world in general.
Descartes pondered what would need to be left for him to still be himself, EPWA allows the philosopher to follow a (usually) reversible path down the road that Descartes described.
EPWA is a comparitively immature discipline, and there are still a number of issues to be resolved:
- It's difficult to make objective observations when you are blind drunk
- The only thing that can really observe the effects encountered during EPWA is the individual philosopher (see 1)
- When the research starts getting somewhere the experimenter often loses the ability to write and remember
- Notes are often saturated in bodily fluids
Recent advances in technology have allowed great strides to be made in EPWA, these are:
EPWA is expected to mature soon, and may even be spun off into a seperate discipline, anyone can contribute to the body of study. All you need is the above, a bottle of cask strength Talisker and the desire to advance thought in one of the most exiting areas of contemporary academic research.
References:
http://www.taigh-ailean-hotel.co.uk/Talisker.htm
http://www.beer.com/
http://www.budweiser.com/