Hilary Lawson on Philosophy Very Much Alive In Hay

Speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist Conference in Hertfordshire this week, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking again declared that ‘Philosophy is dead’. 

“Almost all of us must sometimes wonder: Why are we here? Where do we come from?”, said Hawking. “Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. 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.” He said new theories “lead us to a new and very different picture of the universe and our place in it”.

Yet despite Hawking’s dismissal of other forms of human enquiry, science has no monopoly on truth. We need to return to curiosity and open-mindedness. If science gave up its metaphysical pretentions and stopped supposing that it was uncovering the essential character of the world, it would be stronger not weaker. It would be in a better position to entertain new theories, which might enable more effective intervention in what we take to be reality. Just as science demonstrated the limitations of the church, so now we must come to terms with the limitations of science.

The irony is that in Hawking’s ‘science-trumps-all’ world, philosophy has never been more necessary. The old certainties that came from religion and science have been shaken and their demise has left us confused and lost in our postmodern, relative, world. And where can we look now but to philosophy to try and make sense of the strange circumstances in which we find ourselves. The theme of this year’s How The Light GetsIn is New Gods: Icons and Ideas in a Changed World and will explore exactly this uncertainty.

The findings of contemporary science appear to be untouchable because they take their place in a system of assumptions that has been built and defended over centuries. Yet there are other options, at every level of the account, from the tiniest detail to the most general theory; options that would draw attention to different patterns and different connections, and which would as a consequence offer different ways of intervening and to different purposes.

Hilarly Lawson is the director of How The Light Gets In Festival, 23 May- 5 June, Hay-On-Wye, Hereford, where The School of Life will be running its Breakfast Club and taking a stroll with Socrates, for more details and to book tickets please click here.

Comments

[Drew Byrne]

By the very nature of what it is, we must all miss out on something in life...the Google Zeitgeist Conference in Herefordshire seems a good place to start.

[Ricci]

i'm a fan of philosophy but found myself getting very irritated as i read this blog. scientists often are, by the very nature of their work, curious and open-minded. they also entertain all manner of weird and wonderful theories, e.g. string theory. which specific claims and certainies of science are we talking about here? which particular science? physics and biology have given a pretty good account of why we exist. at the same time, psychology and neurophysiology are trying to unravel the mysteries of consciousness, emotions, perceptions of time and space etc., whilst also trying to offer practical solutions to our ailments. in this sense, science may be lagging behind philosophy, but the criticisms of science here seem unnecessarily harsh. the final paragraph is also extremely vague and comes across as pseudo-scientific. disappointing.