Should philosophers know any and every branch of science?

“Should” for what purpose?
In a SAM order, the Analyst is the philosopher and has access to all science and philosophy but is only an expert at the parts directly associated with his needs.

One important purpose is a kind of scrutiny / surveillance / control / supervision because science needs money for research and therefore becomes a corrupt system if there is no control. The current control is a political or religious control, so that science (which has already become corrupt) becomes more and more a part of the political or religious system. But a political or religious “science” is no science anymore. Philosophy should protect science against corruption. Philosophy does not need money for research. So philosophy is a good spiritual weapon against corruption.

Well, society, like the universe itself, is always ruled by power (affectance through time). Philosophers with more power to affect society (due to having more knowledge) is an interesting theme in itself. A religion or government is merely a philosophy being applied. As one theory (theology) is applied, others must be un-applied. So once “the best” philosophy is chosen, what function would philosophers actually have? What power would they need?

Do you have enough money for such a scientific research like the “European Organization for Nuclear Research” (“CERN”)?

Okay, philosophy can also become corrupt, but currently it is not as much corrupt as i.e. science. Philosophy is both a part of science and not a part of science. So in the case of philosophy the risk is not as high as it is in the case of science in general.

I am not one who would have ever needed it … nor is the world, really.
It cost a great, great deal more money to do things, when you lack philosophical understanding.

Oh, I’m not so sure about that.
Power is spent to ensure the corruption of philosophy. It is much like having 3 kings, each yearning to dominate the world. The only way any one of them can achieve domination (in this case one particular philosophy) is to cripple the others, if not destroy them entirely (hence the destruction of Alexandria).

“Philosophy” isn’t a single thing, but a compendium of ideas in contest with each other. They should be the make of wars, not human beings. But unfortunately homosapian never acquired quite enough intelligence to allow that to happen.

Philosophy - also as a mind-science, spirit-science, awareness-science, knowledge-science etc. - can be subjective and objective like any other branch of science, but when it comes to a very expensive research, then the other branches of science depend more on money. Provided that there is an interest on both sides of buying, everyone can by everything as well as everyone can be bought by everyone, thus also a philosopher who lives in the desert with no human contact can be bought. But who is really more expensive: a physicist or a philosopher?

avengersearthsmightiestheroes.wi … wiki/A.I.M.

Most of the guys that the atheists look up to are mercenary and nothing else.

If they should, this documentary may help…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP2rVGbZXrw[/youtube]

It is useful to know any and every branch of science.

It is subject to the law of diminishing returns, thus one should specialize to match his personal needs without being completely ignorant of any of them. And that specialty might change through time.

Armenius, philosophy does require funding for research. Think about how you gotta do research in order to understand how research is being done in a particular setting, and determine whether or not it’s ethical, or proper, or worth it’s grant money.

ori.hhs.gov/

Those guys above, provide grants to philosophy departments that do just that. Most people teaching philosophy at universities, at least that I’ve met have multiple advanced degrees. So you’ve got a chemist/philosophy phd, or a neuroscience/philosophy phd, or a mathematics/philosophy phd or a guy w/ a law degree and a philosophy phd.

So health and human services wants to make sure that good ethics and responsible conduct of research is occurring in projects funded by their dollars, and so the ORI division, (office of research integrity), pays philosophy departments to essentially police things. Sometimes they fund a review board for experiments that are proposed or that have already taken place. Sometimes they fund the creation of educational tools for experimenters to use for continuing education so that they can be sure how not to accidentally falsify data.

Knowing each and every branch of science inside and out is really unnecessary. That might be hard to understand, but the truth is that there are some very basic, fundamental principles that guide proper scientific inquiry and you can tell a lot about a study just based on it’s structure and it’s proposal and it’s results…without having to know the formulas of physics, and without having to look at dyed cells under a microscope.

Not to say that one isn’t better off in general the more intricate their knowledge of science in all its iterations, but a philosopher per se, doing the work of philosophers doesn’t benefit in his task from maximizing his understanding of the minutia of each brach of science.

Yes, it is not necessary, but it is useful to know any and every branch of science. It depends on the individual case; for some it is useful for others it is more of a burden. So one has to decide.

At one time, a philosopher could know a great deal of science, think Kant or Descartes,
but today, a philosopher can only really know the cliff notes of science because Science
is too big and diverse to know. Heck, even specialist in one branch of physics, for example,
cannot keep up with the advances in physics that not their area of speciality.

Kropotkin

I think Leibniz was the philosopher who knew more about science than all other philosophers; one can even say that Leibniz was a great philosopher, a great scientist, and a great technician.

Despite the fact that scientists are believed to be exact and objective or objectivistic, they follow the primacy of the subjectivity, because scientists dominate the objects, their methods and models are part of them and not of the objects. This illustrates the connection of finding the object and disguising the subject. This kind of hubris is the price of the objectivity and is likewise bought by the quiescence and the standardization of what the subject is allowed to realize / recognize … So in the long run the team of researchers can merely become a homegenous army of subjects who are all shaped by the same methodical disguising. In the long run they have to become uniformed (same interests, same methods, same concepts, same words).

The opposed pole is the primacy of the objectivity, where the researcher comes closer to the object by loving it. (Yes - by loving it!) So the primacy of the objectivity has to do with aesthetics and erotism, whereas the primacy of the subjectivity has to do with agonal competition, with war and death. And, of course, the theories are opposed too: erotic theory versus agonal theory.

I think we have to consider both.

I voted yes, the more you know the more evaluating you can do, the more evidence you can reach and apply to your arguments or quest.

The quest for any philosopher should ultimately be the quest for knowing more, right?

Science helps with understanding, true science does. Whether it be botany or astronomy, it all benefits our thirst.

Be the balance, don’t be on anyones side but your own, or everyone’s. Then you may make friends all over, rather than only fitting into a select group

2op

scientists don’t know every area of science, that’s why you get experts. I think philosophers should know the science [or any knowledge or philosophy] which pertains to what they are saying philosophically.

Hey, three times “A…s”: Arminius, Amorphos, Artimas.

Stark! Crass! Isn’t it? :sunglasses: :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, but we should be careful, because all science becomes dependent on the moneygivers, thus on the corruption. Therefore I mentioned both the primacy of the subjectivity with its agonal competition and the primacy of the objectivity with its erotic aesthetics. The former is currently the hegemonial one, and it’s up to the latter to “survive”.