At long last, the interview with Massimo Pigliucci! First, we discuss a recent article by Massimo regarding Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s dismissal and contempt for philosophy. This article can be found on his new “webzine” here: http://scientiasalon.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-the-value-of-philosophy/
Also, his twitter handle is @mpigliucci
After that, we begin the discussion on scientism and the New Atheists. That discussion will be concluded in Thursday’s show along with lots of Tommentary regarding the interview.
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Dr. Pigliucci makes the same mistake almost all people who are so deeply invested in philosophy make: he thinks philosophy itself is a means for discovering facts. It is not.
Philosophy is a tool but it’s useless without a machine to work on. That machine is the collection of facts in the universe. Science it the only reliable method for discovering and verifying those facts, that we know of so far, while philosophy is how we decide what those facts mean.
Philosophers like Dr. Pigliucci are so enamored of philosophy they want it to be more than it is, they want it to be what it isn’t, they want it to be equal to science, they want it to BE science. It is not.
Philosophers like Dr. Pigliucci don’t think they need the machine of facts but they’re really just waving their tool around in the air.