Synthetic philosophy is Eric Schliesser's name for philosophy that pulls the special sciences together into a coherent account of complex systems. I've adopted it as the philosopher's job in mapping planetary systems.
How the word moved
In August 2024 I was already calling it the connective tissue of disciplines in the Multispecies Studio. In May 2025, in The System of the World, I took it on with Schliesser's definition and used it to map the AI lifecycle. Somebody has to read across the departments. Might as well be me.
In my words
"There’s a special role for the synthetic philosopher in this game"
from Bhumics 16: The System of the World, 14 May 2025
Related
- Inherited from Eric Schliesser - I quote his definition and run with it.
- Related perfectionism and productionism - I used synthetic philosophy to map the AI lifecycle through that pair.