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Is there a point to studying philosophy?

1 points by akbarnama 11y ago

weinzierl 11y ago
Scott Aaronson's view on academic philosophy could maybe of help to decide between philosophy and math/science courses: Scott: Well, let’s start with the positives of academic philosophy! (1) I liked the philosophy of math and science courses that I took in college. Sure, I sometimes got frustrated by the amount of time spent on what felt like Talmudic exegesis, but on the other hand, those courses offered a scope for debating big, centuries-old questions that my math and science courses hardly ever did. (2) These days, I go maybe once a year to conferences where I meet professional philosophers of science, and I’ve found my interactions with them stimulating and fun. Philosophers often listen to what you say more carefully than other scientists do, and they’re incredibly good at spotting hidden assumptions, imprecise use of language, that sort of thing. Also, philosophers of science tend to double in practice as science historians: they often know much, much more about what, let’s say, Einstein or Bohr or Godel or Turing wrote and believed than physicists and mathematicians themselves know. (3) While my own reading of the philosophical classics has been woefully incomplete, I don’t feel like the time I spent with (say) Hume or J. S. Mill or William James or Bertrand Russell was wasted at all. You’re right that these “old dead guys” didn’t know all the math and science we know today, but then again, neither did Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky! I mean, sure, the central questions of philosophy have changed over time, and the human condition has changed as well: we no longer get confused over Zeno’s paradoxes or the divine right of kings, and we now have global telecommunications and the Pill. I just don’t think either human nature or human philosophical concerns have changed quickly enough for great literature on them written centuries ago to have ceased being great. [1] https://intelligence.org/2013/12/13/aaronson/ https://intelligence.org/2013/12/13/aaronson/

1 points by akbarnama 11y ago

Scott Aaronson's view on academic philosophy could maybe of help to decide between philosophy and math/science courses: Scott: Well, let’s start with the positives of academic philosophy! (1) I liked the philosophy of math and science courses that I took in college. Sure, I sometimes got frustrated by the amount of time spent on what felt like Talmudic exegesis, but on the other hand, those courses offered a scope for debating big, centuries-old questions that my math and science courses hardly ever did. (2) These days, I go maybe once a year to conferences where I meet professional philosophers of science, and I’ve found my interactions with them stimulating and fun. Philosophers often listen to what you say more carefully than other scientists do, and they’re incredibly good at spotting hidden assumptions, imprecise use of language, that sort of thing. Also, philosophers of science tend to double in practice as science historians: they often know much, much more about what, let’s say, Einstein or Bohr or Godel or Turing wrote and believed than physicists and mathematicians themselves know. (3) While my own reading of the philosophical classics has been woefully incomplete, I don’t feel like the time I spent with (say) Hume or J. S. Mill or William James or Bertrand Russell was wasted at all. You’re right that these “old dead guys” didn’t know all the math and science we know today, but then again, neither did Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky! I mean, sure, the central questions of philosophy have changed over time, and the human condition has changed as well: we no longer get confused over Zeno’s paradoxes or the divine right of kings, and we now have global telecommunications and the Pill. I just don’t think either human nature or human philosophical concerns have changed quickly enough for great literature on them written centuries ago to have ceased being great. [1] https://intelligence.org/2013/12/13/aaronson/ https://intelligence.org/2013/12/13/aaronson/