I had a conversation with a friend (and mentor) a few years ago wherein she said, "A scientist who isn't a philosopher isn't really a scientist at all." It has stuck with me since.
I'd love to know what you all think about it.
I'd love to know what you all think about it.
Even though a PhD means a Doctorate in 'Philosophy', many of the PhDs don't know WHY they're looking at a question and spending 3-10 years of their lives working on it. Yes, they might have a specific goal with well thought-out objectives, but what about the reason?
All the MSc students at my university were called to attend the thesis defense of a PhD candidate. She had worked on industrial waste and the microbes found in the vicinity of places from where the effluents were discharged.
When asked about what's the relevance of her work, or why she chose that particular topic, she was at a loss of words. Then the external examiner remarked she was doing a doctorate in philosophy and it is important to at least think and know about such questions.
At the end of her presentation, there was a slide mentioning that the studies from her study got an overall impact factor of 9 and everyone applauded as if THIS was the only goal of the study, which I think, is pathetic.
Another PhD candidate I met several years ago was stuck in a confusion regarding his work: she was working on flower heads of a certain family of plants and the genetic reason behind changes in their patterns.
One day, during a lab meeting, she said she wanted to do something which has some relevance, which will help someone. She doesn't just want to go on and get a degree that doesn't solve anything. I think that such discourse is important.
The supervisor explained what she was doing will do a lot in expanding our knowledge about the evolutionary behaviour of plant-pollinator interactions and that knowing such things is important for further research.
Even if your research might not feel worthy at one point, or the opposite, it feels highly relevant, it's important to think or ponder over why you're doing it.
For most of the history of philosophy, the philosophy of science has directly translated to the philosophy of physics. It's only in the past 50 years or so, the philosophy of biology has gained some prominence.
If I were to ask whether you know any scientists who were also philosophers, most of the names (without doing a quick google search) will be that of physicists. (Please, do correct me if I'm wrong.)
I'm sorry, I feel unwell and don't think will be able to tweet until later in the evening, but you may read more about the very basics of philosophy of biology here: plato.stanford.edu/entries/biolog…
DON'T LET THE CONVERSATION DIE THO
