Stephen Hawking: Philosophy Is Dead

Sigh

Alright. I'll read the bloody book. But I already know how this story goes, because I've gone through it innumerable times. Here are the phases:

1. Scientist (usually more to the non-theoretical end of things, but occasionally someone on the theoretical end of things) declares that philosophy is bullshit/dead/whatever.

2. Scientist in question then goes on to say "the answer to these questions is painfully obvious:..."

3. Scientist in question goes on to articulate a position which is either known by philosophers to be utter bullshit, or known to be one unproven option among many, or is known to be an incoherent mish-mash of different positions, or known to be f*cked-up in some other dumbass way.

I love me some Stephen Hawking. Don't get me wrong. And I will be all over it if some scientist answers a philosophical question. (Like, say, John Bell did). What I find tedious is the priesthood conception of science, according to which philosophers are all a bunch of dumbasses who have spent 2500 years thinking about something that any minimally-competent graduate student in any science could bang out a solution to over lunch if he could make room in his busy fish-counting schedule. [And, of course: they merely pronounce their answer ex cathedra...but their arguments are actually even crappier than those of philosophers...]

Jebus. Scientists really are stupid sometimes. The hubris really is unbelievable.