Saturday 28 April 2012

Science vs. Philosophy?

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss recently gave an interview in which he seemed, at first glance, to be shitting all over the notion of philosophy as a serious academic discipline.

Now he has written a really interesting clarification of his actual views on the subject, which I found to be an enjoyable read.

I'm very puzzled by the antagonism one often sees between science and philosophy; on the one hand, you occasionally hear someone saying that science is really all we need for answering all relevant or meaningful questions, and that philosophy is obsolete, or mere word-play, while on the other hand, some philosophically-inclined folks are very hostile to modern science, and argue something to the tune of it being inherently dogmatic or biased, or just another "religion" or "belief system" on par with all the others.

This all strikes me as unnecessary. Contemporary natural science and philosophy are, in my view, ultimately allies. They just do different things.

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