Is philosophy important for theoretical physicist?

Question

When asked this question, Richard Feynman replied that he has doctor's order not to discuss it.

So, no heart troble intended here, you can be as casual as you like -- Yahoo Answer is not a heavy weight discussion forum!

Answer 1

I think so.

Atleast, the ability to be a brilliant thinker and to be creative is important for a theoretical physicist. You don't necessarily have to take philosophy to achieve this.

There is more to philosophy than simply the classic questions that are impossible to answer.


It is not our mathematics that makes the biggest breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe...no. No it is not.



It is our ideas. Einstein was right when he said creativity is more powerful than knowledge. It is. The application of knowledge could not exist without first the creative genius to create the knowledge :)

Answer 2

Historically the answer would be no. But with the emergent popularity of string theory and the like overlap is starting to occur.

Traditionally philosophers would ask 'what does this universe mean?' or 'how can we seperate the external world from our perceptions?' and questions like that, and physicists would ignore those questions for practical purposes and start where the philosophers left off, with little overlap.

String theory suggests the possibility of parallel universes and perception as output and all kinds of stuff which crosses over into many areas of philosophy like epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of mind. So I'd say it depends on the kind of physicist, but increasingly the two are intertwined. And it's all tremendously exciting.

Answer 3

I think the hidden question here is, "Is education important?" The answer is yes. In today's world, most progress is made by the mind. The more you can do to develop and exercise it, the better equipped you will be to make a contribution to society and reap the benefits thereof, whether it's in theoretical physics, engineering, or whatever.

Unfortunately, I never knew Feynman well enough to know how he felt about philisophy in particular, so I can't comment on that part.

Answer 4

Maybe Philosophy reminds anybody, including the theoretical physicist, how little we actually know.

Answer 5

I think so. Philosophy encompasses the theory of knowledge, and you have to have some feel for what we can know, and how, before you start brewing experiments to try to learn something.

Answer 6

Couldn't hurt.

Might help look at a problem or phenonemon in a novel way, maybe gaining insight into it.

And it will help when you find out how low a physcists salary is.

Answer 7

Richard Feymann got it right. When asked to write an essay on philosophy he wrote :

I wonder why I wonder why I wonder why I wonder. I wonder WHY I wonder why I wonder why I wonder ?
Got it ? :-)