Philosophy and data seem two completely disparate fields. Philosophy works with all possible types of input, while in analytics we are limited to the data relevant to our business.
A first similarity is the kind of questions they try to answer.
* Both fields have the goal of saying something about what exists in the world and the way we can acquire knowledge about this. In technical terms this means both are dealing with ontology and epistemology.
* Both fields must deal with the question how we could use this knowledge about our world or business to craft better lives for ourselves and each other. In other words, answering ethical questions.
* Both fields use certain argumentation strategies to make our points clear and the way we present our findings can enhance or detract how persuasive our arguments come across.
* Both use logic and aesthetics to achieve their goal.
As a philosoher who wound up in data, I created a series of articles about how you can be inspired by philosophy to improve the way you use data in an organization.
I bundled these articles in a small e-book with these subjects:
Order the e-book here: philosophersindata.com.
