Basstrap
ONE love, blood, life
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2000
- Messages
- 10,726
I've seen this question posed a fair bit lately.
The frequency of the question has certainly increased after the publication of Steven Hawking's latest book The Grand Design where, on the first page, you see the words written "philosophy is dead". But even before this book I often heard the declaration in some form or another, mostly from physicists and biologists.
My first reaction was one of incredulity, and even now I am not completely on board with the assertion. But, I think there is some kernel of truth there.
Aristotle said that the main thrust of philosophy is the analysis of cause, and ultimately to discover the primary cause. And he's right, I think. Long before his Metaphysics - and long after - philosophers had mused over things like ground substance and the nature of being. My favourite of these is Plato's Theory of Forms; there is such ingenuity on display there!
However, perhaps nowadays we've come full circle and have placed a very material lid on the whole problem in the form of quantum physics. To seriously discuss "ground substance" today you probably have to get into quantum mechanics, or theoretical physics and math (i.e. String Theory) Someone educated purely in philosophy will simply be unable to broach these subjects.
But, it isn't dead. The study of the notions leading up to modern science is still important, and besides, philosophy isn't limited to a search for cause. There are still valuable inputs regards morality, ethics, and the even the very way we discuss problems. The Socratic Method (evolved as it is) is alive and well, and I think has no rival as a way of arriving at truth.
The frequency of the question has certainly increased after the publication of Steven Hawking's latest book The Grand Design where, on the first page, you see the words written "philosophy is dead". But even before this book I often heard the declaration in some form or another, mostly from physicists and biologists.
My first reaction was one of incredulity, and even now I am not completely on board with the assertion. But, I think there is some kernel of truth there.
Aristotle said that the main thrust of philosophy is the analysis of cause, and ultimately to discover the primary cause. And he's right, I think. Long before his Metaphysics - and long after - philosophers had mused over things like ground substance and the nature of being. My favourite of these is Plato's Theory of Forms; there is such ingenuity on display there!
However, perhaps nowadays we've come full circle and have placed a very material lid on the whole problem in the form of quantum physics. To seriously discuss "ground substance" today you probably have to get into quantum mechanics, or theoretical physics and math (i.e. String Theory) Someone educated purely in philosophy will simply be unable to broach these subjects.
But, it isn't dead. The study of the notions leading up to modern science is still important, and besides, philosophy isn't limited to a search for cause. There are still valuable inputs regards morality, ethics, and the even the very way we discuss problems. The Socratic Method (evolved as it is) is alive and well, and I think has no rival as a way of arriving at truth.