Philosophy is a way of thinking. It’s a way of questioning.
When it comes to science, we can agree or even understand another scientists theories, and formuals…we can prove them, accept them and use them. However , we do not have to go through the same “thought process” that the original scientist went through, to gain the same conclusion. That is why it’s called a proof. The “thinking” involved behind the theory is only interesting. It doesn’t affect the validitiy of the theory itself.
IE…once a scientist has discovered something, the human element behind the discovery is no longer part of the scientific discovery.
Philopsophy is different. It’s that human element, behind discovery, that philosophy attempts to delve into.
One does not need to have faith in science, because it doesn’t not require a thought process by those who follow it. It can prove itself.
Philosophy on the other hand, is not something you can ever “accept” because some-one else say’s so. You must traverse the same path as the philosopher, thinking, learning, challenging, humbling and ultimately discovering that which may already be known by another, but not by oneself.
It is not hard to see why philosophy and science once interconnected because both explored the nature of the unknown. Science and philosophy split, when the natural world, became known and/or techniques could be developed that would allow us to know with certainty. And humans crave if not anything else…certainty. Science no longer required a laborious attempt to understand the “scientist” to understand the theory they made.
Philosophy had it’s place, and I suspect…will have a much greater place and play a much greater role in human society, in my own lifetime. I already see the emergence of this and embrace it’s resurgance.
Science, while very useful and is an absolute submission to truth of the natural world…it .cannot challenge us as individuals, in the way philosophy can.
Cheers
