Letters
By Science News
Philosophers strike back
As someone who has taught philosophy of science and history of science for 30 years, I must take exception with Tom Siegfried’s editorial, “Philosophers don’t know what scientists can’t do” (SN: 7/18/09, p. 2). Of course, they don’t! But neither do scientists! Immanuel Kant and Auguste Comte were just as wrong about many things as their scientific contemporaries were. Categorical claims about the nature of the world and the nature of knowledge are risky and, as we know, often mistaken, but this is not the province of philosophers only.
David Boersema, Forest Grove, Ore.
Science News is my favorite journal of new observations and theories, and your weekly editorial is frequently my first stop. Your editorial, “Philosophers don’t know what scientists can’t do,” was exceptionally provocative. One might argue the subject ad nauseam.