Science needs philosophy, but what philosophy?

14 March 2025

Steven Orzack
Fresh Pond Research Institute
Cambridge, MA

James DiFrisco
Francis Crick institute
London, UK

Abstract

Philosophy of science has the potential to contribute to science by improving scientific reasoning. However, this potential is largely unrealized because many scientists are not aware of what philosophy can offer, because of deficits of scientific expertise among most philosophers, and because of adherence to discipline-specific norms that render most work in philosophy of science irrelevant to the concerns of scientists. Although we agree that "science needs philosophy" [1], we show that the philosophy of science will contribute little to science without change of practice. Our focus is on biology and philosophy of biology, but our arguments apply to other disciplines as well. We provide guidelines ("commandments", in the sense of [2]) for how biologists can better understand what philosophy of biology can provide to biology and guidelines for philosophers of biology to provide work that would benefit biology.

References

1. L Laplane, P Mantovani, R Adolphs, H Chang, A Mantovani, McFall-Ngaih, C Rovelli, E Sober, T Pradeu, "Why science needs philosophy", PNAS 116:3948-52 2019. Full text
2. R C Francis, M A Hixon, M E Clarke, S A Murawski, S Ralston, "Ten commandments for ecosystem-based fisheries scientists", Fisheries 32:217-33 2007. Abstract