Sidney Hook
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND
PHILOSOPHICAL "KNOWLEDGE"*
I propose to raise some fundamental questions about the
relation between scientific knowledge and philosophy. I shall begin
with some naive observations which although inexact are hardly
likely to be contested, and then proceed to issues of a more prob–
lematic and controversial character. The advantage of "naive ob–
servations" in sophisticated discussions is that they weaken the tend–
ency to settle questions at the outset by definition.
Let us look away for a moment from the multiple ambiguities
in
the meaning of terms like "know," "knowing" and cognate ex–
pressions.
It
is a matter of common agreement, even among philoso–
phers, that we derive considerable and reliable knowledge of the
world and of ourselves from science, and from our own practical
experience of everyday affairs. There is far less agreement, however,
over whether in addition to this scientific and practical knowledge
there is another category that may be called "philosophic knowledge."
The reasons for this lack of knowledge are not difficult to perceive,
considering the chaotic state of philosophic thought, the recurrent
controversies and absence of any cumulative or progressive develop–
ment within it. Philosophers even disagree about the nature of their
subject matter (in this they resemble writers and artists), and a
good part of their activity consists in extended justifications, even
apologies, for their existence (in
this
they differ from writers and
artists).
I know of no other reputable field of thought that exists in
such chaos; there is more unanimity even
in
disciplines such as an–
thropology or meteorology, which have barely reached the stage of
• This is a radically abridged version of a paper presented in a Colloquium
on Thomism and Contemporary Philosophy, at St. Louis University, June 12,
1956, in which secular philosophers were invited to discuss philosophical issues
with Catholic philosophers. A section of the paper devoted
to
a critique of
angelology has been omitted.
