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Choosing which philosophical leads to develop?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, Noah asks:

I'd be interested in hearing a discussion about how people manage the process of chasing down their philosophical leads. I have an ever-growing list of ideas that, prima facie, seem like they might be fruitfully developed into papers ("philosophical leads"). But, as I'm sure is familiar to many, the process of figuring out which these ideas really are viable is long and fraught. It can require significant time reading the literature, thinking things through, and drafting material, with no guarantee that the process will ultimately result in a paper. I'm curious to hear how others navigate the following issues:

(A) Deciding which of the many philosophical leads you have at any moment to actually pursue.

(B) Dealing with the temptation to pursue new leads rather than complete existing projects.

This is an interesting query, and I'm curious to hear from readers.

Personally, I don't have anything like a formula for choosing which of my ideas to pursue. Instead, every time I think I might have a worthwhile idea, I create a new sub-folder in my research projects folder and jot up some of the basic ideas in a Word document. Then, both through doing background research (on PhilPapers, Google Scholar, etc.), I try to see how the project fits into the existing literature. Then, if I find that the argument hasn't been given yet, I'll just move forward with whichever project(s) that I am the most excited about and seem to have the clearest vision on how the argument should go.

I have to confess that this process leads to a lot of false positives, or projects that either don't go anywhere or languish for months or years (though sometimes I'll come back later to ideas that I couldn't find my way on). Still, it seems to work pretty well–but again, there's no real formula. I sort of just feel things out.

What about you all? How do you chase down new philosophical leads and deal with issues (A) and (B) above?

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6 responses to “Choosing which philosophical leads to develop?”

  1. Michel

    I keep a file of ideas, and I just select what I think is most interesting to me at the time. Then I work it up and send it out. I don’t waste time wondering whether it’s workable/good; I make it workable/good! (Well, in my opinion. Good enough for R2, anyway!)

    Reply
  2. TooManyIdeas

    I do not have to offer a great solution but want to second the OP’s question. I find “choosing” the right topics/papers/projects to work on extremely difficult, in particular when being at an early career stage where it might still be decisive what you have on already for determining your future path in philosophy (as in my case). At the moment, I have no more to go on than mere intuition and “mood”, tbh.

    Reply
  3. Hermias

    Write what your daimon inspires you to write. If you’re thinking about it rationally and making a grid out of it, you won’t write well.

    Reply
  4. Noah

    Re @Hermias, the problem I have with that is gestured at in (B) above. It’s easy for me to get inspired by new leads. The problems then are are two-fold. First, you can be drawn or inspired by multiple leads. Second, it’s very tempting to abandon the slog of actually working through an idea to completion in favor of chasing the shiny new lead. In the process [lead -> finished draft], you usually encounter difficulties (e.g. argument gaps, potential objections, more areas of literature you need to investigate) that can make it very tempting to wishfully think that another lead might make for a smoother process.
    For these reasons, I haven’t found the strategy of letting inspiration lead where it may to be an effective one.

    Reply
  5. Bill Vanderburgh

    I don’t have any great advice for this in general, since I have a large file labelled “To Write” and at this point I’m sure it is not possible for me to write every paper and book that I have listed there. I have long used the strategy of “structured procrastination,” where you work on one project to avoid working on another that is slightly more important or bigger. I’ve gotten a lot done that way. But I have recently tied myself in knots by having more than one large project on the go at once, making little progress on any of them. There is a real time and energy cost of “picking up and putting down.” Multitasking is a myth. It is better, if you can do it, to push through on one project. Or so I wish I had convinced myself years ago.
    For folks on the tenure-track though, two thoughts: If you can, choose the idea that is most closely engaged with recent literature. For sure, pick a thing that can be finished relatively quickly, and don’t let yourself be distracted by a new project until you have finished the first one (or come to a definitive dead end). Smaller projects that don’t require a ton of new reading or research are your best bet since you need to get some pubs quickly.

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  6. academic migrant

    Talk to people. When I still had a supervisor, I defer to his judgement. I have now built a small network, and I typically bring my ideas to them, and work on what appears to also interest and look plausible to others. If you also have colleagues who work on other fields, bring your idea to them.

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