Quotes – Scientists Bashing Philosophy and Philosophers

Here’s a selection of scathing quotes made by scientists about philosophy and philosophers.

“Scientists are very ambitious. They’re very competitive. If they really thought philosophy would help them, they’d learn it and use it. They don’t.”

Lewis Wolpert, 1929 – present

Philosophy Now, Round Table Debate, March 22, 2000

“…few of the philosophers themselves are investigators, or have any first-hand acquaintance with things; most of them are indolent and untrained, add nothing to knowledge by their writings and are blind to the things that might throw a light upon their reasonings.”

William Gilbert, 1544 – 1603

De Magnete, 1600

“The philosophy of science is just about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.”

Heard by Steven Weinberg, 1933 – present, often attributed to Richard Feynman

Facing Up: Science and Its Cultural Adversaries, 2001

“[philosophy is] just a way of talking about discoveries that have already been made.”

Paul Dirac, 1902 – 1984

Quoted from 1963 in The Strangest Man, 2009

“I have tried to read philosophers of all ages and have found many illuminating ideas but no steady progress toward deeper knowledge and understanding. Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress.”

Max Born, 1882 – 1970

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 1965

“…many of the subjects of physics – space and time, causality, ultimate particles – have been the concern of philosophers since the earliest times. But in my view, when physicists make discoveries in these areas, they do not so much confirm or refute the speculation of philosphers as show that philosophers were out of their jurisdiction in speculating about these phenomena.”

Steven Weinberg, 1933 – present

American Scientist, 1977

“Nature consults no philosophers.”

John Walker, 1731 – 1803

Lectures on Geology, 1792

“The progress of mankind is due exclusively to the progress of natural sciences, not to morals, religion or philosophy.”

Justus von Liebig, 1803 – 1873

Letter to Schönbein, Aug 1 1866

“Why are we here? Where do we come from? Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophers have not kept up with modern developments in science. Particularly physics.”

Stephen Hawking, 1942 – 2018

Google Zeitgeist Conference, 2011

“If experiments are performed thousands of times at all seasons and in every place without once producing the effects mentioned by your philosophers, poets, and historians, this will mean nothing and we must believe their words rather than our own eyes?”

Galileo Galilei, 1596 – 1650

The Assayer, 1623

“Of course, philosophy is the field that hasn’t progressed in two thousand years.”

Lawrence Krauss, 1954 – present

American Atheists National Convention, 2012

“Seeing [philosophy] had been cultivated by the most powerful minds… but nevertheless there is not in it one single thing which is not disputed, and therefore open to doubt, I had not the presumption to hope that I should succeed better than others.”

René Descartes, 1596 – 1650

Discourse on the Method, 1637

“Philosophers have contributed nothing. And if we go back to the suggestion that it was philosophers who brought about the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance – it’s simply false! Galileo was not a philosopher. He was a scientist.”

Lewis Wolpert, 1929 – present

Philosophy Now, Round Table Debate, March 22, 2000

“…in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrations than from probable conjectures and the opinions of common philosophers.”

William Gilbert, 1544 – 1603

De Magnete, 1600

To be fair, not all scientists are as dismissive of philosophy and philosophers as those quoted above. Here are more positive thoughts:

“A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is — in my opinion — the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.”

Albert Einstein, 1879 – 1955

Letter to Thornton, 1944

“The average scientist unequipped with the powerful lenses of philosophy, is a nearsighted creature, and cheerfully attacks each difficulty in the hope that it may prove to be the last.”

Gilbert N. Lewis, 1875 – 1946

The Anatomy of Science, 1926

Also, there are instances when philosophical ideas have influenced scientists. Hans Christian Oersted began a new epoch in science when he discovered that electricity and magnetism are linked. Oersted was influenced by the philosopher Friedrich Schelling who believed all of nature was unified.

“…all phenomena are correlated in one absolute and necessary law, from which they can all be deduced.”

Friedrich Schelling, 1775 – 1854

Werke, III

“Oersted was searching for the connection between those two great forces of nature. His previous writings bear witness to this, and I, who associated with him daily in the years 1818 to 1819, can state from my own experience that the thought of discovering this still mysterious connection constantly filled his mind.”

Johan Georg Forchhammer, 1794 – 1865

Chemist and Geologist

And finally, a philospher bashes another philospher:

“Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.”

Bertrand Russell, 1872 – 1970

The Impact of Science on Society, 1951