Contrast with one of our chief nitwit scientists Stephen Hawkings who said "philosophy is dead."
Yes, not only am I a critic of Hawking on that, I contend that he did not understand the subject. Philosophy is definitely not dead. Hawking forgot that skepticism is philosophy - and skepticism is more important now than ever. Skepticism is where we err in science most often - it is precisely this shortfall in philosophical skill, which renders scientist, public and mankind alike - vulnerable to lies dressed up with p-values or arrival distributions.
This is where our dark agencies of Bernaysian Social Engineering conduct their dirty work - inside skepticism (philosophy). Hawking both missed this, and was rendered vulnerable to that condition as a scientist (as are 95% of scientists). I have hired hundreds of scientists and engineers, and I contend that none of them are trained in skepticism, and less than 5% even really knew what it was. This is part of the Social Engineering process: stripping philosophy from its role as the substrate of science - leaving science blind as to its ethical execution.
Hawking further expounded, here to give the quote more context:
Speaking to Google’s Zeitgeist Conference in Hertfordshire, ..."Most of us don't worry about these questions most of the time. But almost all of us must sometimes wonder: Why are we here? Where do we come from? Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead,” he said. “Philosophers have not kept up with modern developments in science. Particularly physics.” Prof Hawking went on to claim that “Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”
These are
not questions of philosophy, contrary to what Hawking contended. These are questions of science. Scientists have always been the 'torchbearers of discovery in our quest for knowledge'. Philosophy can never pretend to step in and replace science in answering these questions. As philosophers, we are constrained from such action - by the knowledge of philosophy itself. As a philosopher I am not a scientist; I cannot step in and pretend to issues answers in lieu of science.
As an ethical skeptic, your first duty of philosophical acumen is not to execute the scientific method per se, which is straightforward in comparison. You are not here to promulgate conclusions, as that is the habit of your foe (the fake skeptic). Your ethical acumen is necessary rather, in spotting the clever masquerade of science and knowledge.
It bothers me that Hawking would spend his entire life inside science and the thoughts underlying why we do what we do, inside science - and yet never grasp this principle. Philosophy cannot step in and usurp science, as that is not its job.
However, his second context framing in green above helps shed light on what I think he was striving for. I contend that one does not just 'become' a philosopher - nor does a degree get you even one step closer to being one. A philosopher must bear a kind of qualification record before being acceptable as such. A philosopher is not made by memorizing Kant, Plato and Nietzsche. Rather a philosopher is built through a life of cuts and bruises - a generalist's trial of arduousness. The same reason why a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy wears 'hash marks' on his forearm, and is well respected for it. According to the statement
One who’s boots bear the mud of the road less traveled by, should carry also a loam of ideas less thought of.
Now this is what we do lack.
Perhaps what Hawking meant falls more in line with my criticism of philosophy, that most of its proponents do not/did not possess the basis from which to really be a philosopher. They are/were missing key aspects of knowledge, experience and life - these are my qualifications for a philosopher - below. As such I tend to get a lot bored with 'shadows on the cave wall' paradigms, or endless casuistry as to why God does or does not exist. That is not philosophy...
42 Critical Knowledge/Experience Qualifications of a Philosopher – Ancient or Modern
1. Predictive strength of evolutionary phylogeny to DNA/Historical extent and influencing factors inside evolution
2. Planck intervals, spacetime and boundary conditions
3. Turing principle and nature of computation/been a cryptographer
4. Expansive and extensive nature of our universe/Probable ubiquity of other life in universe
5. Archaea/cyanobacter appearance timing and development
6. DNA/RNA replication, stops, codons, transcripterase, conservation, expression
7. 3rd letter of the DNA codon codex boxing & protein progression
8. Inflationary universe and time-space malleability/dimensionality
9. LaPlace transformation calculus and higher mathematics
10. Solar and post-solar mass gravitation/Chandrasekhar Limit
11. Theories of special and general relativity
12. Wealth of paleontological data
13. Wealth of pre-Biblical archaeological and civilization data
14. Managed a scientific lab or been on a team making a significant scientific discovery
15. Extent of hominin lineages and overlap/progression with homo sapiens sapiens
16. Quantum Entanglement: Spooky Action at a Distance/Observer Effect
17. Have advised a head of state on what his/her nation should do & be held accountable for the results of that advisement
18. The absence of evidence for a Worldwide flood
19. Warfare/Faced death/Been shot at
20. Have played an instrument, written, played and sang a real, complex and heartfelt song
21. Have taught a class and had students remember you
22. Lived in more than 1 or 2 countries
23. Have grown a garden
24. Have designed a super-large structure & then lived or operated in it
25. Have designed, managed & been accountable for a process involving 1,000 people or more
26. Have observed first hand, grand scale corruption in governance/power
27. Sailed at least 3 oceans/survived in wilderness at least 3 days
28. Been over 120 ft deep in the ocean
29. Periodic table of the elements in detail/organic chemistry/metallurgy/exotic materials
30. Binomial distribution, bounded distributions and theories of probability/arrival distributions
31. Hypothesis testing theory/p-value amaurosis and risk/anti-fragile/tail theory
32. Modeling, simulation and outcome theory
33. Have started and run a business and failed
34. Have started and run a business and succeeded
35. Have had families and lives believing in and depending upon you
36. Had someone they love die in their arms/Had your children severely injured or killed through social malice
37. Have had a Near Death Experience/Seen a UFO
38. Exhibited difference-making leadership under dire circumstances, while leading more than a handful of people
39. Have overcome through their own research and discipline, a major health/threat to life issue or almost died
40. Have put their life on the line for the innocent, and against an empire
41. Volunteered for a homeless shelter/been homeless
42. Have saved someone from dying