Carl Sagan quote - Science is much more than a body of knowledge

[jerome_ky]

…I could see it being argued that Science has philosophical elements. But in contemporary science it seems a bit strange to say that “Philosophy is science” unless you are talking about one of the more archaic usages of the the word “science” (knowledge). But I don’t think that is what is being discussed.

Not criticizing, but using this as a jumping-off point. Philosophical ideas at least ostensibly have provenance. In Catholic teaching, we can find historical backing for dogma and doctrine in historical councils and papal teachings. Philosophy in general is more like protestantism, where every philosopher is an authority, but to be taken seriously they have to build on previous philosophy.

Carl Sagan was a popularizer of science. He didn’t play on the philosophy gridiron. Any academic can have an opinion in other areas, but it doesn’t make them experts. It’s like Richard Dawkins statement that he won’t discuss physics because he’s a biologist and not a physicist, (but for some reason he feels comfortable discussing theology).

What these men, and Neil Degrasse Tyson, have done is to take the scientific method and declare that to be the only tool in the toolbox. They are provocative in our culture because they’ve said out loud what a lot of people are thinking, for instance Sagan saying “evolution is not a theory, it’s a fact,” but the truth is they aren’t in the game. They have bastardized the history of thought on this topic, or rather our culture has allowed them to, by essentially cherrypicking their philosophy. They are to the Philosophy of Science what Pat Robertson is to True Christianity. They seem to be spokesmen but they are just outspoken.

All that is just to say this: Philosophy is supposed to be about Truth, and Science is a legitimate branch of it. True Philosophy resides in works like Aquinas’ Summa. It is after the Reformation that Western Philosophy began taking off in different directions and you get a muddle of theology, even as the physical sciences were burgeoning due to advances in technology. I think one could trace a link from both these breakdowns (theological and philosophical) to both Nazism and the development of nuclear weapons, the first of which made development of the second seem so critical.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

What these men, and Neil Degrasse Tyson, have done is to take the scientific method and declare that to be the only tool in the toolbox.

Tyson hasn’t said it’s the only tool in the toolbox. He is on video as saying that philosophy has been and continues to be useful within certain domains.