Viliam_Bur comments on [LINK] Physicist Carlo Rovelli on Modern Physics Research - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (12)
Hawking:
Tyson:
Seems to me they are saying that inferential distance between philosophers and modern physics is too big, so unless philosophers start seriously studying physics, they will no longer be able to contribute meaningfully using their intuition only. (Of course they can still provide some Deep Wisdom, or post-facto explanations.)
Yes, but they were saying this without actually considering the available evidence. There are many philosophers out there who do seriously study physics, and Hawking and Tyson were swiftly corrected on this point by other physicists who do in fact actively engage with philosophical work (Sean Carroll and Carlo Rovelli, for instance).
Neither Hawking nor Tyson seems to be even passingly familiar with contemporary philosophy of science. For instance, in The Grand Design, Hawking first declares that philosophy of science is dead, then goes on to defend a view he calls "model-dependent realism", which he evidently regards as his innovation, but which philosophers of science have actually been writing about for decades.