Drunk philosophers, studied in a bar in France

Ig Nobel Prize winner Laurent Bègue and colleague Aaron Duke have a new study about the effect of drunkenness on philosophy. The study is:

“The drunk utilitarian: Blood alcohol concentration predicts utilitarian responses in moral dilemmas,” Aaron A. Duke and Laurent Bègue, Cognition, 134 (2015): 121-127.

The 2013 Ig Nobel Prize for psychology was awarded to Laurent Bègue [pictured here at teh Ig Nobel ceremony], Brad Bushman, Oulmann Zerhouni, Baptiste Subra, and Medhi Ourabah, for confirming, by experiment, that people who think they are drunk also think they are attractive. (REFERENCE: ” ‘Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder’: People Who Think They Are Drunk Also Think They Are Attractive,” Laurent Bègue, Brad J. Bushman, Oulmann Zerhouni, Baptiste Subra, Medhi Ourabah, British Journal of Psychology, Volume 104, Issue 2, pages 225–234, May 2013.)

Emma Green profiles the new, drunken philosophers study, in The Atlantic. The profile begins:

The Cold Logic of Drunk People

At a bar in France, researchers made people answer questions about philosophy. The more intoxicated the subject, the more utilitarian he or she was likely to be….

(Thanks to Estrella Burgos for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS: A look back at Laurent Bègue’s essay “Le jour où j’ai reçu un IG Nobel” [The day I received an Ig Nobel Prize]