Physics and Philosophy

I often say, “It hasn’t been a good last hundred years-or-so for philosophy.”  And as shown at left, this sentiment is shared by minds far brighter than my own, in this case, German-British physicist and mathematician Max Born.

Until fairly recently, if you wanted to learn what humankind knew about:

The ultimate building blocks of the universe, you asked a metaphysician, especially one focused on ontology, the study of being.  Now you ask a particle physicist.

The origins of the universe, you asked a theologian.  Now you ask an astrophysicist.

The limits of human knowledge, you asked an epistemologist.  Now you ask a neurologist, or perhaps an extremely specialized psychologist.

I don’t regret have reading Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and the like, but the relevance of these folks’ thoughts on the summits of human knowledge has taken a significant tumble since they were in their heyday.