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Compared to Science, is Philosophy Just a Nuisance?
Scientism as a downside of the mastery of modern techniques
Given that science works so well, is philosophy just so much grandstanding?
What’s the point of raising philosophical doubts when scientific progress seems to speak for itself? If we want to know what knowledge and reality are, and even how we should live, why look any further than what scientists are saying and showing us, and how they set aside their biases and collaborate to solve problems and make the world better in realistic ways?
After a few centuries of scientific advances in modelling and building on nature, are philosophers only pestering the public with their grandiose doubts and far-flung speculations? Is the twenty-first century philosopher a Chicken Little figure or like some harebrained, downtrodden prophet, wailing about dangers that exist only in his or her fevered imagination?
In other words, shouldn’t we all just be pragmatic about what we’re doing and stop worrying and complaining so much? Shouldn’t we just figure out what works, like scientists have evidently done, and stop looking the gift horse in the mouth?
