Re: Question: Philosophy of Science - is it Relevant?

Perplexed in Peoria wrote: "In my experience, philosophers don't really
'demonstrate' things."

That's a good point. I will respond in two parts:

First, a historical example. Galileo is supposed to have dropped two
cannonballs of dissimilar sizes from the top of the tower at Pisa. Both
arrived at the ground more, or less simultaneously, thus falsifying one of
Aristotle's laws of physics. Unfortunately, the account that this happened
is not very credible and took place some 70 years after the event. Galileo's
own words are far more interesting [paraphrased and translated from Medieval
Italian or none of us will know what the heck I'm talking about]

Galileo asked us to consider what would happen if the two balls were tied
together as one by an iron rod. The smaller and lighter ball, according to
Aristotelian physics, would slow down the ascent of the larger, heavier
ball. Yet the combined weight, being greater than either ball alone, meant
that they would fall *faster* when tied together, as well as *slower*. Since
a contradiction was (and remains) not allowed, the answer to the problem was
that differing weights necessarily fall at the same rate. Galileo had
demonstrated that Aristotle had been wrong about falling weights.

Now Galileo was a philosopher, it was the job he was paid to do, and he was
recognisably (in hindsight anyway) a great physicist. The question I pose
is: "Where do you demarcate the philosophy and science, or is the question
irrelevant?"

And that brings us to part two of this breathless explanation. Perplexed in
Peoria referred to *in his experience*. This is more of a problem of "What
on earth are the philosophers doing when they could be demonstrating
things?" for the likes of Perplexed in Peoria. The short answer is that they
spend far too much time demonstrating things to each other in their own
small circle than getting out and about shepherding ideas from one place to
another where they might do some good.

Jonathan Sturm

The world's most Pompous Git according to Google


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question: Philosophy of Science - is it Relevant?
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