• Question: Science says: science is about discovery learning and improving of understanding of life. Philosophy says: we can never truely know anything. I suppose Philosophy is stating science is pointless. What is your argument against this?!?

    Asked by lemonsqueeze99 to Indi, Jarv, John, Ken, Vicky on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Vicky Young

      Vicky Young answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      I would say that philosophy is referring to the world/universe at large. For instance we could all be in someone’s dream but we could never prove it. Therefor if we are just a dream are we real? Do we really get sick? Doea the universe even exist or was it just created in this dream? In this sence yes I would agree with philosophy that we an never be certain.

      However what does matter is that with science you can see an effect and prove theories in this world – real or imaginary – science is making this difference. So I would say that yes because we can see and feel the differences of science then I believe we have proved its effect. For instance taking a pain killer can relieve yor headache!

      I would say that just because we are still unsure of our world phisophically doesn’t mean we should stop exploring it, figuring it out and helping those living in it!

    • Photo: Indi Ghangrekar

      Indi Ghangrekar answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      I think Philosophy is refering to more ethereal knowledge about existence, logic, truth and morals – these are more linked to how a person perceives and makes sense of their world according to their experiences and beliefs. Whereas Science tries to understand measurable entities and tries to find patterns that can lead to theories and increase our knowledge of our surroundings in a systematic way.

      PhD actually stands for ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ but here the term Philosophy refers to the actually meaning of this Greek word – love of wisdom. So PhDs are not undertaken for scientific subjects but all sorts of subjects that you study very in depth.

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