Well, I think some part of the negative reactions stem from the fact that the scope of philosophy is incredibly narrow these days, and largely limited to specul

Well, I think some part of the negative reactions stem from the fact that the scope of philosophy is incredibly narrow these days, and largely limited to speculative analyses. For example, experiments that detect electro-chemical impulses in the brain and compare them during various moods would classically have been squarely in the center of a philosopher's work. But today, they are part of biology, or psychology, or some other science that has split away from what was once philosophy. As a result, (referring to the original example), literally "Whether it does or it doesn't" is the only problem that is under the aegis of philosophy -- everything else has been delegated to some science or the other.