Why Does Neil deGrasse Tyson Hate Philosophy?

In a controversial interview, Neil deGrasse Tyson dismissed philosophy as “distracting.” The host of the television series Cosmos even suggested that philosophy could inhibit scientific progress by encouraging “a little too much question asking.” He thus follows a growing secular trend that cordons Science off from all other forms of inquiry, denigrating whatever falls outside science’s purported boundaries – especially the more “speculative” pursuits such as philosophy.

Fortunately for the progress of science, Albert Einstein didn’t take this attitude. According to him, studying the “history and philosophy of science” provides an “independence” from generational “prejudices” necessary for creative thought. Moreover, the “independence created by philosophical insight is,” Einstein thought, “the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.” By enabling one to see the “forest” rather than the “trees,” a philosophical understanding of scientific history is indispensable for understanding -- and even practicing -- science.