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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker 11 Jul 2017

    Scientists should stop thinking of philosophy as a way to waste time until they get around to solving the problems.https://qz.com/627989 

    7:30 AM - 11 Jul 2017
    • 531 Retweets
    • 1,151 Likes
    • Michael Allen Anna John Leven Madana Bhat-Khandige ©huy $$$ Zainal Oiz Gia maria Adekunle Adeleye
    102 replies 531 retweets 1,151 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Napoleón Cornejo‏ @napocornejo 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        I agree philosophy is interesting, but so is Lord of the Rings. The central question is whether this is way to objective truth. Is it?

        5 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
      3. Pavel Gregoric‏ @pavelgregoric 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @napocornejo @sapinker

        And "objective truth" is...? (Mind you, whatever you answer will be a a philosophical claim.)

        5 replies 0 retweets 28 likes
      4. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @pavelgregoric @napocornejo @sapinker

        I have to say, this "no matter what you say, you're using philosophy, therefore I win" tactic is annoying, and part of the problem.

        3 replies 0 retweets 18 likes
      5. Pavel Gregoric‏ @pavelgregoric 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @napocornejo @sapinker

        The fact that you think it's a tactic, not a serious problem rigorously pondered for millenia, explains your sympathy for Nye's prattle.

        3 replies 0 retweets 18 likes
      6. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @pavelgregoric @napocornejo @sapinker

        Yeah, because insisting that what looks like turf defense is really a "serious problem pondered for millenia" ALSO looks like turf defense.

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      7. Pavel Gregoric‏ @pavelgregoric 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @napocornejo @sapinker

        Mat, just read the article linked by Pinker.

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      8. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @pavelgregoric @napocornejo @sapinker

        Okay. Read the follow-up.https://qz.com/960303/bill-nye-on-philosophy-the-science-guy-says-he-has-changed-his-mind/ …

        2 replies 1 retweet 10 likes
      9. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @pavelgregoric and

        I'm aware philosophy has value. I'm a fan. Like Nye does now, I find epistemology particularly interesting. I studied it in college.

        1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      10. 7 more replies
      1. Olivia Goldhill‏Verified account @OliviaGoldhill 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        .@BillNye did change his mind in the end... if only other anti-philosophy scientists were willing to reconsiderhttps://qz.com/960303/bill-nye-on-philosophy-the-science-guy-says-he-has-changed-his-mind/ …

        0 replies 8 retweets 23 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Most scientists don't have a problem with philosophy, but with "Philosophy". The philosophy they use every day handles, say, epistemology.

        3 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
      3. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @sapinker

        The "Philosophy" that they disdain is navel-gazing anti-empirical nonsense that defies even the possibility of an answer.

        2 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
      4. Matthew Prorok‏ @MJtheProphet 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @sapinker

        Problem is, "Philosophy" gets a lot more press than philosophy. Michael Strevens is nowhere near as famous as David Chalmers.

        2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
      5. Marcissistic‏ @Memetherapy1 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @MJtheProphet @sapinker

        Exactly. Many phils see Dennett as hand-waving while Chalmers is being constructive, when in fact Dennett is being consilient and coherent.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      6. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2.  🦉 Wisdomination  🦉‏ @Supreme_Owl_FTW 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        It's mainly the fault of the sort of people who've gone into philosophy ever since it became a profession. Field devalued from inside.

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      3. Chibi Thomas Jefferson's Ghost‏ @PixyMisa 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @Supreme_Owl_FTW @sapinker

        There's been some amazing ideas in philosophy, but also a lot of really dumb ones.

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      4. Chibi Thomas Jefferson's Ghost‏ @PixyMisa 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @PixyMisa @Supreme_Owl_FTW @sapinker

        I think the problem scientists have with philosophy as it is practised is that the dumb ideas never really seem to go away.

        3 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
      5.  🦉 Wisdomination  🦉‏ @Supreme_Owl_FTW 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @PixyMisa @sapinker

        Philosophy's main problem is that all the interesting topics branched off and started their own disciplines. It's left with autist babble.

        1 reply 2 retweets 3 likes
      6. TomHarrigan‏ @realTomHa 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @Supreme_Owl_FTW @PixyMisa @sapinker

        There is still an interesting and fundamental philosophical battle within science. Realists vs anti-realists, with the anti-realists ahead.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. Chibi Thomas Jefferson's Ghost‏ @PixyMisa 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @realTomHa @Supreme_Owl_FTW @sapinker

        On that question, I side firmly with the "shut up and calculate" crowd. Questions that can't ever be answered don't matter.

        2 replies 1 retweet 1 like
      8. TomHarrigan‏ @realTomHa 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @PixyMisa @Supreme_Owl_FTW @sapinker

        Religious proclamations like that don't seem to sit easily with the method or the spirit of science. Arbitrary barrier to what can be known.

        3 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      9.  🦉 Wisdomination  🦉‏ @Supreme_Owl_FTW 11 Jul 2017
        Replying to @realTomHa @PixyMisa @sapinker

        That statement looks topsy turvy. Delimiting the knowable and unknowable is the first step of science. It's the opposite of arbitrary.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      10. 3 more replies

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