Quote:
Originally Posted by filtherton
I think philosophy generally amounts to an intellectually masturbatory exercise where no one really learns anything useful because everybody is too busy patting themselves on the back. I think most philosophical arguments can be ended with a simple "So what?" It is a good way to develop abstract reasoning skills though.
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Word on the street is that philosophy is concerned with finding problems instead of finding answers. I saw this nugget of wisdom when I kept arguing for the scientific method in a philosophy chat room.
However, you should know that the most esteemed physicists are aware of the epistemological problems involved in claiming that they have (or would have) a Theory of Everything. Steven Weinberg recently admitted that there are some constants in nature that are so arbitrary, that he is led to believe that they only take on those values in a local pocket of our universe. After all, how could any physicists know for sure that the laws of physics do not look different in a very far-away place?
Try looking up the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on google. It is run off itm.edu server. I'd link but I can't post links yet under this account. Check out the entry there on
epistemology. It's good stuff.