Philosophy and Science

In the lives of most, and perhaps of all, of us there come moments of dejection, or even of despair, when the burden and the mystery of this unintelligible world come with such crushing weight upon us that, in spite even of religion itself, we ask, “What does it all mean? What is the good of it all?” The questions are asked in a despair which implies that there is no meaning in it all, and no good in life; or that, if there is, at any rate we cannot see it.

But though the questions may be asked, and in moments of personal despair are asked, in a tone which implies that no satisfactory answer is or can be forthcoming, they may also be considered, in a calmer mood, as questions which call for a reasoned answer, and with regard to which we must ask, as a matter of deliberation rather than of despair, whether an answer is possible at all. Now, it is the calm consideration of these questions in a reflective mood, and of the answers that are to be given to them—if any answer can be given—that constitutes philosophy.

Let us look, therefore, once more at the questions, “What does it all mean? What is the good of it all?” and let us see what is implied by the questions. The “it” in “What does it all mean? What is the good of it all?” evidently refers to experience we have of the world and life. Obviously,  therefore, it is with experience that philosophy has to do—with our experience in life; it is from experience, therefore, that philosophy has to start, and it is on experience, and the things experienced, that philosophy has to reflect.

Next, the questions are put not about this or that particular experience, this or that particular phase of experience, this or that particular department of knowledge, or of life, or of experience, but about it all—what does it all mean? It is, therefore, all experience, experience as a whole, being and knowledge as a whole, that philosophy has to contemplate.

Further, the tone in which the questions are put, “What does it all mean? What is the good of it all?” implies that the person who puts these questions despairingly to the universe, took it for granted, once upon a time, that life was worth living, that there was some good in it and that it had some meaning; but that now he is beginning to wonder whether there is any meaning in it all, whether the universe is rational and intelligible, and whether there is any good in it. He is beginning to be skeptical and doubtful on these points.

Now, you and I may be convinced in the bottom of our hearts that the world is run on rational and intelligible principles, and that there is some good in life, and might be more if only men would think and act reasonably. But, if we are convinced of this, we ought to be able to give some answer to the man who is doubtful and skeptical about it. And if you are to understand his difficulties, you must put yourself in his position. You must put yourself in his place so far as to ask whether there is any meaning in life, any good in it all. And you must ask the question fairly and squarely, Is there any meaning in it all? And to answer the question you must turn to experience, his experience, your experience, the experience of all of us, and you must reflect upon it as a whole—that is to say, you must become a philosopher. Each science tells us about some particular set of things; but when every science has done so, the question still remains, “What does it all mean? What does it all come to?” And any attempt to answer these questions is a philosophy. It is with the whole of experience that philosophy attempts to deal. Philosophy is the attempt to deal with the whole, and with our experience as a whole.

It is from experience we have to start, and to experience that we have to return. We start, and must start, from it, because we have nothing else we can start from. We reflect upon it—and the reflection upon it is philosophy—in the hope that having done so we may understand it rather better when we have thought it over. If that should be the fortunate result, then we shall find that we understand our experience better than we did, and that there is more in it than we thought at first, and even that it is in some respects really different from what at first we took it to be.

Of course there is also the possibility—even if it be but a bare possibility—that the more we reflect upon experience, the more difficult it will be to discover any meaning in it, or to make any sense out of it. And if we finally come to the conclusion that there is no meaning in the world, or none discoverable by us, the conclusion will still be a philosophical conclusion, because it is the conclusion to which we are brought by reflection upon experience, but it will be a skeptical philosophy.

In philosophy, as in other departments of inquiry, skepticism is the revolt against dogmatism; that is to say, philosophical skepticism, or skepticism in philosophy, is the revolt against the notion that there are some conclusions which we may not question, but must accept without inquiry or reason. But it is the very breath and being of philosophy that it should at all times be ready to reconsider its conclusions in the light of new evidence and fresh facts. Only by doing so can philosophy either grow or live at all. The dogmatism which forbids it to readjust itself to the growth of knowledge is a dead hand laid upon philosophy and fatal to it. So far, then, as skepticism is a revolt against dogmatism and destructive of it, it is an essential condition of the growth of philosophy.

But destruction, necessary though it often is, in philosophy as elsewhere, is not construction. It may be necessary to pull down an old building before we can build a new one on the site. But if we destroy, it is only in order that we may reconstruct. And that is why skepticism never in the course of philosophy has been, and never in the course of things can be, final. But that is just the important fact which is overlooked by those who consider that skepticism is the last word in philosophy. The truth is that philosophy is a living, growing study; and that, so long as it lives and grows, the last word has not yet been said....

[Here] the question may reasonably be asked, since we have science, What is the need or the use of philosophy? What is philosophy, anyhow? Well, I repeat, philosophy is the attempt to answer the question which some men ask about life and experience, “What does it all mean? What is the good of it all?” Now, there are many sciences—mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, geology, and hosts of others—but not one of them even asks, much less answers, the question which is the most interesting question of all— What does our experience come to? What does it all mean? What is the good of it all? It is philosophy and philosophy alone which puts that question and attempts to answer it.

Each of the particular sciences deals with one particular set of facts. Philosophy, on the other hand, is the attempt to contemplate all experience and all being, not to deal with any one particular set of facts but to regard them as forming one whole, and to ask what is the meaning of the whole. No science does that. No science faces all the facts. In war successful strategy often consists in taking the enemy in detail and in beating one division of the hostile army after the other. And that is the kind of strategy that science employs. Instead of attacking the problems presented by nature all at once, science takes the problems singly and deals with them one at a time. That is why there are so many sciences; each is told off to do its special work and deal with its own particular problems. Each, therefore, can give us information about its own particular department of knowledge, while none can tell us anything about the work of any other science. Still less can any one science undertake to sum up all the work of all the other sciences....

...Each science deals with one particular set of facts and no one science deals with all the facts of experience, whereas it is with all the facts and with experience as a whole that philosophy deals; for the object and purpose of philosophy is to inquire, What does all our experience come to—What is the meaning of it all?

That is the difference between science and philosophy: philosophy deals with experience as a whole—with life as it is lived….