The Role of Narratives in Conceptual Engineering

Conceptual engineering is a proposed philosophical method that has generated a significant amount of interest in analytic philosophy in recent years. It represents a fastmoving field of research which is of relevance to various other disciplines. However, the connections between the framework of conceptual engineering on the one hand and narratives on the other have been largely left unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to sketch a starting point for the inquiry into the intersections between conceptual engineering and narratives. To this end the paper will give an answer to the following question: Is there a role that narratives can play within the framework of conceptual engineering? I give an affirmative answer to this question by identifying four roles that narratives can play within the framework of conceptual engineering: a (1) descriptive role, (2) normative role, (3) engineering role, and (4) exploratory role. The prospects for narratives within the framework of conceptual engineering remains to be an exciting idea warranting further examination.