RE: Generally speaking, is philosophy a worthwhile subject of study?
February 26, 2022 at 11:26 am
(February 26, 2022 at 10:57 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: A poor analogy. Chemists may have abandoned alchemy, but they haven't abandoned logical principles. You noted yourself earlier in thread that scientists are doing philosophy, and perhaps doing it even better than philosophers of old.
I think you're on to something there. It seems to me that to be a good philosopher today, you might want to have a solid background in whatever science applies to your subject of focus - and that's been the direction that contemporary philosophy has gone. I don't know if you can do science absent some philosophy, and you may actually be able to do philosophy absent any science, but, if you could, you'd probably be doing it wrong - if for no other reason than a disparity in the production of sound (or potentially sound) premises.
Again, not everyone using logical principles is doing philosophy. Not everyone engaging in deep thinking is doing philosophy.
You had mentioned Crosby as an example of someone who is doing philosophy with a strong science background. to me, he looks like someone doing much of the typical religious nonsense, but without deities. *shrug* This is definitely NOT a worthwhile area of study in any serious way. Again, good for drinks with friends exploring possibilities. But not much substantive there.
I'm curious if you know any philosophers that actually grapple with the metaphysics that comes out of modern physics. I certainly don't know of any.