Disclaimer: I am no philosopher. I have never even had a course on the topic, I know next to nothing about it. Pretty much what I know about it is that philosophy is the original science, period.
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A minor storm rattled the cosmos recently and there is no sign that it is winding down. Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson is under fire for his remarks in “The Nerdist Podcast” disparaging philosophy. Among other things, he was quoted as saying that he “… does not have time for deep, philosophical questions”. Apparently, this is well-documented, so it was not taken out of context. Moreover, he seems to stand by his remarks.
Several writers / scientists / philosophers (and some of them all three) have written critiques with various degrees of vehemence in strong opposition to Tyson’s remarks, and I have to say that I agree with all of them.
Along the way, he’s been called a Philistine (anti-intellectual), he has also been called a bully and I suspect that he has been called some other, less civilized things (I do not agree with the name-calling though). Here’s some of the relevant links:
http://www.nerdist.com/pepisode/nerdist-podcast-neil-degrasse-tyson-returns-again/
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=7936
http://www.newappsblog.com/2014/05/neil-degrasse-tyson-against-die-aufkl%C3%A4rung.html
http://theweek.com/article/index/261042/why-neil-degrasse-tyson-is-a-philistine
Probably the most complete, analytical and on point analysis of Dr. Tyson’s statements (and very respectful too) came from Dr. Massimo Pigliucci, who has doctorates in both science and philosophy. I should trust that he knows what he is talking about, but I do not have to. Judge for yourself.
Here’s Pigliucci’s post:
http://scientiasalon.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-the-value-of-philosophy/
In a separate episode, there was an incident where Tyson apparently uninvited (with no clear reasons) a philosopher scheduled to appear in some kind of panel, so this does not seem to be Dr. Tyson’s first offense to philosophy.
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/neil-degrasse-tyson-blows-it-big-time/
Most of the criticisms against Tyson center on the fact that his comments send an anti-intellectual message. Impressionable young minds may be led astray and even away from true science, no question about it. Tyson is not the first physic… er, person trained in physics (you see, he does not seem to be a practicing scientist) who had disparaged philosophy, but he is without a doubt the one with the highest profile and I humbly join the chorus of voices that say to him: “Sir, you are wrong!”
Incidentally, I have read with dismay people describing Dr. Tyson as the “Einstein of this generation“. My, some people are easily impressed as I said in my post “Tyson is no Sagan, and Sagan was no Einstein“, but I digress…
Anyway, an integral part of a person’s scientific calling is to ponder the “Big Questions” (BQ). There are discipline-specific BQs as well as the **really** BQ that apply to the universe as a whole. Due to the nature of these, it is unlikely that a person can dedicate her/his scientific life to explore just that, but each of these questions provide a guiding light that give meaning and direction to a particular area of knowledge, and they must not be dismissed. Moreover, these are the questions that attract people to the sciences in the first place; they are the essential link that joins knowledge with wonder. Even better, you do not need special training to ponder them. Science belongs to every one of us mainly because we all (well, most of us apparently) ask ourselves these Big Questions. It is simply human nature.
Heck, an academic doctorate (the highest degree awarded by any university) is called the PhD, which stands for “Doctorate in Philosophy”!
This issue is particularly ironic to me given that Tyson is trained in astrophysics; sizewise, the BQs associated with astrophysics are *****really***** BQs! It is also particularly ironic that many of the BQs in the area that he was trained on have no immediate practical application to our daily lives. For example, it is incredibly interesting, awe-inspiring and mind-boggling to learn that our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and the Andromeda galaxy are on a collision course (I actually learned about it watching the 2016 Cosmos series).
However, please don’t go prepper just yet; this will happen about 4 billion years from now, give or take.
Thus, this fact is absolutely no relevant to our lives, maybe not even the life of our own species, yet it does not diminish one bit its… oh well, awesomeness.
If it is true that Tyson feels that does not “…have time for deep, philosophical questions”, I say why of course, it is no wonder, as he is basically an administrator of a distinguished institution (a very good and noble thing), and an entertainer/science popularizer (I have said before that he is a very good one, too). But I really think if you are not willing to set aside even a little space of your mind for BQs, do not call yourself a scientist.
So there.
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