Philosophy or Science?—Part 1

Having been educated in physics, I find myself relating more easily to an article on science than one on philosophy. When I encounter something written on a scientific topic, I find myself drawn to it—even if it's a branch of science that is over my head. At least I can pretty much follow the argument presented by the writer, though I may drop out part way through, because it's not a specialty that interests me (or that I can really comprehend).
 

When I read an article on philosophy, however, I often find myself quickly lost in a forest of philosophical jargon that soon abandons me to the depths of expressions and ideas that seem so foreign, that I get left behind. Things seem so squishy and ungrounded that I get lost among the glut of philosophical trees and completely lose any comprehension of the philosophical forest. I often give up, just after starting.

Now, I know that philosophy has an honored and deserved position in the pantheon of human ideas and has been life’s focus for many astute sages, so it makes sense for me to try to understand it. I also have read that in today's culture, scientists and philosophers sometimes lock horns with each other. Furthermore, I'm aware that during the ancient Greek period, science and philosophy were pretty much one in the same. These seem like conflicting thoughts that make it hard to wrap my head around, so I’m compelled to keep trying.

So what's going on? As someone with a scientific background, must I choose sides and therefore reject the teachings of philosophy, as some of today's leading scientists have done, or do I delve into the struggle and try to get a better understanding of philosophy, so that I might embrace it better than I currently am able to do?

Faced with a quandary such as this, I often turn to the dictionary, in an attempt to clarify my grasp of the central terms that I'm pondering. Here are the definitions of philosophy and science that I found:

·         Philosophy: the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Its root: love of wisdom.

·         Science: the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world, through observation and experiment. Its root: to know.

This tells me that philosophy might ask questions like: What's going on? What's the nature of things? How do we know that our understanding is valid? How can this knowledge guide us ethically? How do we improve our knowledge and how do we measure that improvement?

In contrast, while I see science asking some of the same questions, science does not necessarily address ethics. Science studies the “how” but not necessarily the “why.” While philosophy is primarily concerned with the human mind and its ability to comprehend reality, science is primarily concerned with the nature of the universe—independent of how the human mind might perceive it. 

More on science and philosophy next time...