Does Philosophy Exist?
How philosophy could disappear in the next centuries
What is Philosophy?
Throughout the ages, philosophy has evolved and has never been constant. What we regard as philosophy now, might not have existed 300 years ago, and what they might have considered philosophy, we now consider it a science.
But what exactly is philosophy? The google definition of philosophy is:
“the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.”
If we remove the last part, about academic disciplines, the given definition is quite accurate, but I would like to add that it’s aim is to answer questions about knowledge, reality, and existence. After all, philosophy is solely based on philosophical questions and inquiries about our world, and doing philosophy requires us to answer said questions.
Let's go back to the 2nd century AD, philosophy was being dominated by mostly Hellenic (Greek) persons. These people weren’t only “philosophers” like many are now, they were knowledgeable in many fields, such as mathematics, history, geography, and so on. Such was how philosophy was regarded, it was a field like many others, held in the highest regard within society. People who we know of now, such as Pythagoras, weren’t only mathematicians, but made contributions to philosophy as well.
What did this mean for philosophy?
It meant that philosophy, as a field, was closely interconnected to the sciences and mathematics. The geocentric model of the earth, and the Ptolemaic model, now a scientific way of explaining how the universe and the world works, was partly a philosophical one. When scientists didn’t know how to answer a question scientifically or by observation, they would return to philosophy and answer it using philosophical methods. When Claudius Ptolemy wasn’t able to explain the retrograde motion of planets he made guesses on what could explain it.
Astronomy was often considered as part of philosophy, more specifically the philosophy of nature. This was a common trend, philosophy’s aim is to answer questions that have no apparent (scientific) answer to. We see this now, with the mind-body problem, our consciousness and where thought arises from, if the mind is the same thing as the brain.
Natural philosophy is a field within philosophy that does not really exist anymore due to all its answers having been answered by science. It started back when Aristotle was alive, having been one of the first people to talk about the philosophy of nature. As science got more and more complex, it was able to answer more and more questions which were previously unanswered, and thus, answer questions within natural philosophy. It would be until the 17th century where natural philosophy remained common, with works such as “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica “ (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), written by Sir Isaac Newton.
It was at that point where science and philosophy stopped being so intertwined, where science slowly started replacing the philosophical field, and thus, negating thousands of years of studies.
Nowadays, we still have questions that science cannot answer, and thus, new philosophical fields emerged. With the rise of AI and computers, new fields of ethics and philosophy have started popping up, debating whether AI will ever be smart enough to be “human” and so on.
This trend could suggest that, in the future, what we now are considering philosophy will become just a new science. The problem of consciousness and the mind-body problem might be answered in the upcoming years are more and more studies are being done on this. What we regard as philosophy, is really proof of our own current ignorance, that we hope to be answered in the future.
So, will philosophy exist?
It’s hard to say. I can’t predict the future, and neither can you. But there is a real possibility that in a 1000 years philosophy won’t exist due to scientific advancements. It’s also possible that philosophy is a constant feedback loop.
This means that philosophy requires technological and scientific advances to live. Whenever there is a brand new big leap forward, philosophy evolves with us. The industrial revolution brought about the birth of many different philosophical inquiries. So it is possible—maybe even likely—that philosophy will never die, but rather, remain in a constant, forward flowing motion, advancing alongside us.
It is also possible to argue that some philosophical inquiries will never be answered by science. For example, morality and ethics. It would be impossible for me to write that science can definitely answer morality and pick one type of philosophical theory over the other. Morality could be something that sticks with us forever, due to its inherently subjective nature.
Overall, I can’t really answer this question, and I don’t think any philosopher can. All we can do is wait and see. I, for one, cannot wait to see what new philosophical questions will exist even just 50 years from now.
