RE: Is philosophy dead?
January 10, 2016 at 8:12 am
(This post was last modified: January 10, 2016 at 8:19 am by bennyboy.)
(January 10, 2016 at 5:34 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(January 10, 2016 at 3:58 am)bennyboy Wrote: Nor, without making philosophical assumptions unsupportable by scientific observation, can you even establish whether ANY physical system, neuronal or otherwise, human or otherwise, actually has the subjective awareness of experiences and ideas we call mind.
I'm not even sure that, without making such assumptions, that one can establish the *existence* of, well, pretty much anything but one's own mind. The inescapable conclusion of *not* accepting certain assumptions is solipsism. Wheeeeee! Lions and tigers and brains in vats, oh my!
That's right. Here's the hard-core science process:
1) make a series of assumptions on the grounds that they're "pragmatic" or that there's nothing better;
2) don't call any of it philosophy, even though it is exactly that;
3) use the word "yet" a lot when asked about question for which science clearly has no answers
4) smugly proclaim that philosophy is dead, replaced by Science
