RE: What's the point of philosophy any more?
March 20, 2018 at 7:42 am
(This post was last modified: March 20, 2018 at 7:56 am by I_am_not_mafia.)
(March 20, 2018 at 7:33 am)Sal Wrote: Isn't philosophy sort of "re-viewing" the knowledge the physical sciences have already established? Or what?
I can see there being a role for philosophy if it is interdisciplinary and draws upon many different scientific fields without specialising in any of them. That would take some serious effort and be useful for scientists working on their own problems who might miss out on the breakthroughs made by scientists working in other fields. That would then be quite interesting to read up. Funding bodies have started to try promoting interdisciplinary research by bringing together experts from different fields to work together. Maybe philosophy will end up heading in this direction as each scientific field fragments into multiple specialisms.
(March 20, 2018 at 7:35 am)Khemikal Wrote: If we're satisfied that the current system is without room for improvement, discovery, or additional clarity..then there's no point. Are we, though? Because if we're not.....then we have reason to keep polishing the stone. Polishing that stone polishes every statement made out of it..including every single scientific conclusion.
My question is more along the lines of, what's the point of having a load of nicely polished stones laying around everywhere cluttering up the place looking elegant and ornamental?
I see the need for blue sky research for example, but at least blue sky research in science, maths and logic means that there is the possibility of making a better kind of door stop with your polished stone. Pure philosophy seems to be done for its own end.
My husband and I always laugh when we see a pure Mathematician interviewed on TV because of a break-through they spent their entire careers working on. The interviewer will ask them what use it is and the mathematician will mumble something along the lines of "uses in stacking, queueing theory and encryption ...". It's like a secret code understood to mean, well yeah, it's been a really difficult puzzle that I really wanted to solve it and get paid at the same time.
