"Scientific philosophy" seeks to closely align philosophical inquiry with scientific methods.

Traditional, nonscientific philosophy is increasingly seen as outdated or even "dead."

Many leading philosophical minds now work in scientific fields outside philosophy departments.

Will science replace philosophy?

“Philosophy is under attack.”

If one hears that sentence in today’s discussions, it largely refers to the repeated (and often successful) attempts to close philosophy departments, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States.

But not too long ago, such sentences would have largely been heard in the context of the rapid advances of the sciences. If we look at the history of the sciences, we can see the gradual emancipation of fields of inquiry once seen as part of philosophy develop a degree of independence. What was once called natural philosophy or experimental philosophy became science. And so it was only natural to speculate that philosophy, as a whole, may one day be replaced.

Take this excerpt from Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s The Grand Design:

We each exist for but a short time, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe. But humans are a curious species. We wonder, we seek answers. Living in this vast world that is by turns kind and cruel, and gazing at the immense heavens above, people have always asked a multitude of questions: How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? How does the universe behave? What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a creator? Most of us do not spend most of our time worrying about these questions, but almost all of us worry about them some of the time.Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.........

© Psychology Today