4 ms·
Science is our best tool for understanding the material world, but it is unsuited for solving problems beyond that scope. Science cannot tell us what to live fo
by lordleft 6y ago
Science is our best tool for understanding the material world, but it is unsuited for solving problems beyond that scope. Science cannot tell us what to live for, or what is good or evil. It can definitely inform the answers to those questions, but so much sloppy thought emerges from those who reduce problems of philosophy to problems of science.
- dcow 6y agoThis was generally my entire college experience. There were a few pockets of fresh air, like my philosophy classes. It was only after graduating that I started to notice people slowly coming around to the idea science is a useful, but not exhaustive tool, for developing ethical frameworks, world views, principles, etc. And the attempts to use it strictly to do so (the pockets of hyper-rational logic out there) leave much to be desired, at least in my opinion. What surprised me most was how often practitioners of science, not just those “for science yarr” types, got caught up in the whole thing.
- analog31 6y ago>>> Science cannot tell us what to live for, or what is good or evil. Nor can anybody else. At best, a field of study can enumerate multiple, irreconcilable answers to those questions. I'm not saying those fields aren't worthwhile, just that they're equally unsuited to solving problems beyond that scope.