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1. Is Philosophy a Science?
The question whether philosophy itself is a science has been debated for centuries. Below are the main arguments on both sides.
Arguments That Philosophy Is a Science
- It has formal institutional status (universities, journals, reference works)
- It possesses a specific subject-matter and methods of research (e.g. dialectic in Marxism)
- It has its own technical language and terminology
- It forms a body of knowledge transmitted in written form and higher study
Arguments Against
- Institutional status alone does not make a discipline scientific
- Its subject-matter is hard to demarcate cleanly (unlike physics or chemistry)
- If ontology studies “being itself”, it risks becoming identical with philosophy as a whole
- Astrology also has specialised terminology – that does not make it science
- Philosophy cannot be taught like an empirical science; most books are histories or conceptual dictionaries
2. A Love–Hate Relationship
Science Does Not Need Philosophy? (The Critical View)
Hawking’s remark echoes Nietzsche’s “God is dead.” He claimed that questions about the universe and the nature of reality now belong to science, not philosophy.
Historical Empirical Argument
Critics argue there is no clear example of philosophy’s usefulness to science. When philosophy appeared useful, thinkers were actually doing science. Classic example: Plato held that planetary motion must be circular because circular motion is the most perfect. This belief delayed progress in cosmology for centuries.
Division of Labour View
Philosophy and the physical sciences have different subject-matters and therefore need not interfere with each other. As Hawking observed, philosophers appear to be retreating to the study of human nature and societies, leaving nature to the scientists. In short: Science explains; philosophy comprehends.
3. Science Needs Philosophy
The Fallacy of Anti-Philosophicalism
To argue that one does not need philosophy, one must already be doing philosophy. The claim “philosophy is useless” is itself a philosophical statement.
Paradigms and Presuppositions (Thomas Kuhn)
Science advances not merely through the formulation, experimentation and refutation of principles, but through revolutions and changes of paradigm. Paradigms include ways of looking at the world. Philosophy plays an important role in the discovery of new scientific theories.
Philosophy Scrutinises Concepts
Philosophy performs an important analytical function. Philosophical scrutiny (often carried out by scientists themselves) clarifies concepts of space, time, energy, information, causality, etc. The critical function of philosophy can reveal the entities and assumptions that science takes for granted.
4. Tasks of Philosophy in Relation to Science
Scrutinise terms and presuppositions
Analyse and clarify the basic concepts science uses.
Discover standards for good theories
Help formulate criteria for valid models of explanation.
Stimulate scientific progress
Philosophical questions often open new research programmes.
Provide ethical guidance
Articulate broad goals and moral limits for scientific practice.
Point out interrelations of concepts
Show connections across different scientific domains.
Explain how observation fits a broader picture
Place empirical findings inside a coherent worldview.
Create a shared language
Enable scientific results and human expertise to complement each other.
5. Einstein, Quantum Mechanics and the Return of Philosophy
Why the Historical Argument Fails
Quantum information theory is alive and developing precisely because of renewed foundational (philosophical) questions.
Einstein vs Quantum Mechanics
- 1927: Heisenberg declared quantum mechanics a closed theory; supported by Bohr, Pauli and Dirac.
- 1935: The EPR (Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen) argument showed that quantum mechanics appeared incomplete if one accepted the principles of relativity.
- Einstein’s question was both physical and philosophical: he wanted a theory that completely describes reality independently of the observer.
“Shut up and calculate” Culture
After EPR, philosophical discussion of quantum mechanics flourished and then largely died out. During the Cold War, equations prevailed. A new generation adopted the motto “Shut up and calculate.” Heisenberg himself noted that his mind was formed by studying Plato. Later economic pressures and renewed foundational interest brought philosophical thinking back into physics.
Conclusion of the Debate
Science requires philosophy in order to connect its knowledge with other domains of understanding. Philosophy may currently be in a difficult state, but it cannot be dead so long as we continue trying to understand the universe around us.
Key Takeaways for CSS / PMS
- Philosophy has institutional features of a science but its subject-matter is harder to demarcate.
- Hawking’s claim “philosophy is dead” is itself a philosophical statement.
- Thomas Kuhn: science advances through paradigm shifts, not only through linear accumulation of facts.
- Philosophy scrutinises the concepts and presuppositions that science takes for granted.
- Einstein’s EPR argument shows that foundational (philosophical) questions remain vital in physics.
- Science explains; philosophy comprehends. Both remain necessary.