Philosophy is dead

Why it stays with me

This is one of the most provocative lines in The Grand Design, and it comes right at the start. The authors argue that scientists, not philosophers, now carry the torch in answering questions about the nature of reality.

I enjoyed the book, but this is the line I disagree with most. The book itself is full of philosophy: what counts as reality, what makes a theory good, and whether laws of nature need an explanation. Calling philosophy dead is itself a philosophical claim.

What I take from it is a challenge rather than a verdict. Philosophy that ignores science risks becoming irrelevant, and science that ignores philosophy risks being careless about its own assumptions. They work best together.