Has Physics Made Philosophy And Religion Obsolete?

[mibn2cweus]

For discussion - http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/has-physics-made-philosophy-and-religion-obsolete/256203/

I debated where to put this, deciding to give R&S first crack at it, so let's see how it goes. I haven't read the full article myself yet but it seems interesting enough to get back to and so am taking the liberty to save it here for future reference.

[woofgang]

I am not sure what, if anything, physics has to say about things like ethics, morality or happiness?

[naomi24]

I'm reading .....

[ll_billym]

If the universe is proven to be truly deterministic then maybe so but even if it is then we still have the illusion of free will therefore philosophy has it's place as woofgang alludes to.

[pixie373]

Ethics, morality and happiness are mainly biological, so I'm not sure religion answers anything.

[jim360]

Religion maybe, but not Philosophy. There is a rich depth of philosophy in Physics -- what does Quantum Mechanics/ Quantum Field Theory/ The mathematical nature of the models mean for real life? Philosophers have some catching up to do in order to understand better how we describe the real world, perhaps, but the idea that it's dead... no, I'm not convinced you can go that far.

[jomifl]

/ Science is meant to make people uncomfortable./
err what? No it isn't, it is nothing about comfort or discomfort, it is about understanding everything or at least trying to.

[pixie373]

I thought that meant less complacent - it is supposed to make people think.

[ludwig]

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, even though I haven't read the article yet.

[ludwig]

The question is philosophical in nature and therefore provides it's own answer. If this type of question can still be asked, philosophy can't have been made obsolete.

[naomi24]

I still haven't finished reading the article - but I will. Woofgang has hit the nail on the head. Physics has nothing to say about ethics, morality, happiness or any other human emotion - and it hasn't provided the answers to questions that people content themselves to answer through philosophy and religion - so no, physics hasn't made philosophy and religion obsolete.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, good logic.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Let's hope not, Mibs. That would be you and I out of a job for starters, innit.

[jomifl]

Philosophers will always find something to philosophise about even if it is only philosophy.
Believers are happy to believe anything even when to most rational people it is arrant nonsense, so their future is assured:o)

[Khandro]

He says; "I think at some point you need to provoke people" but fails to continue; //...in the hope that they will buy your book//.

[mibn2cweus]

Thank's to all the contributors to this thread. I've read your views with no less interest and thought as that which the article has apparently provoked in us all. Perhaps it's only fair I share my views as well, but either way . . . here they are -

Alarms go off for me, as well I think they should for us all, when any field of inquiry purports to have all the answers. It is at that point that we have left the realms of philosophy and science far behind in exchange for the false comfort that religion seems to provide for those unwilling to acknowledge that they don't have legitimate answers to their most crucial questions while denying the possibility that such answers might exist or to consider the possibility that many of them already do if they remained willing to seek them out.

Specifically physics and science in general stem from a branch of philosophy which asks and attempts to answer questions regarding the physical nature of the reality we are confronted with and observe, metaphysics; and the internal means and process by which we obtain and consciously integrate and confirm what we know; epistemology. Having such knowledge is an invaluable resource serving an essential need to know what we can do, what is possible, and what we should do, and why.

Ethics is an attempt to integrate ourselves as potentially rational entities to the wider world we find ourselves and each other living in. Those who do science owe it to themselves and others to remember the reason for doing science, to sustain and promote the well-being of those capable of doing science for the potential benefits we all stand to derive from the process. It worries me that minds with the capacity to grasp the essential nature of the universe might be blind to the reason for doing so and the valuable contribution philosophy makes to that understanding.