Hawking is One of History's Most Brilliant Fools

by Joseph - written in response to Hawkings assertion that philosophy is dead


Hawking is one of history's most brilliant fools. If philosophy is dead, then this death occurred when philosophy was seduced by science and tried to become a social science.

Philosophy stumbles when it seeks to imitate the objectivity and neutrality of science. After all, real job of philosophy IS to judge - to judge right from wrong conduct, to judge the true and real from the false and illusory.

Science limits itself to understanding HOW it all came be, HOW things happen. Philosophy asks WHY things came to be, WHY things happen.

Nor can science declare that any phenomenon that it studies is beautiful. Science limits itself to what can be verified by all men through the senses, thus choosing to ignore unique, personal, internal experiences.

The more philosophy distinguishes itself from science, the better for both! That's not to say that I'm anti-science. I love studying mathematics and physics, especially quantum and astrophysics, as far as my limited education in these subjects and free time will allow. And these studies have impacted my perception of God, the universe, and my place within it. 

Philosophy should certainly be informed by science, but must never try to obey or become a science. Because science is, after all, a child of philosophy, and the parent should never seek to imitate the child. Science is born of the philosophical assumptions that the material universe is real, that man is real, that both are fundamentally good, and that phenomena arise due to cause and effect rather than fate. Without philosophers such as Pythagoras and Aristotle, science could never have been born.

We can even prove that philosophy is the superior endeavor. Imagine a world run by enlightened, wise philosophers who lack science. Now imagine a world run by brilliant scientists who lack ethics, a branch of philosophy. In which world would you rather live?