Six Standards of Philosophical Progress

Is there significant progress in philosophy? The optimist says Yes. The pessimist says No. Both answers presuppose a standard of progress—a measure of what counts as a significant amount of progress. In this paper, I discuss six standards of philosophical progress. I argue that these standards are either implausible or satisfied. That is bad news for the pessimist but not necessarily good news for the optimist. I gesture at some reasons for optimism, but the main aim of this paper is to argue against pessimism.