Were philosophers of yesteryear scientists ? If so , what are they now ?

Question

I'm sure you can be both today .

Answer 1

~As two the first question, some were, some weren't. As two the second, it depends on what you mean by "yesteryear" but if you refer to anything over 100 years ago or so, what there are now is DEAD.

Any thinking person is (or at least ought to be) a philosopher to some extent. Presumably, the scientists to which you refer were and are thinking persons. Duh.

What is really sad is the misunderstanding you (alone with most other people) have concerning exactly that which "philosophy" is and who "philosophers" are. That would be a product of the decay of the education system and the laziness and unwillingness of people to want to learn.

Answer 2

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that many were called "classical scholars" and other such titles because the sciences were not as rigidly divided as they are today. For instance William James was a philosopher but wrote the defining text book "The Principles of Psychology" and taught the first psychology at Harvard. He also wrote a book called "Pragmatism" that deals with that philosophy. Such cross over between the fields is rare today. In fact psychology often works very hard to establish itself as a science and deny it's birth from philosophy.
Philosopher use reason and logic (and as such are scientist) but often propose untestable (at this time) theories and ideas and use imagination to think about problems and solutions. They are not scientist in the rigid terms that biologist and chemist usually practice.

Michael John Weaver, M.S.

Answer 3

It's the other way around.

The first scientists were philosophers.

Science has since evolved into a very precise study of physical phenomena, so even though it can still be considered a subset of philosophy, the trend is to view it as a separate field. (Although, I must confess Quantum Mechanics seems like a branch of Metaphysics;-)

Where are they now? Pick a coffee shop. Philosophers are like poets. There's no shortage of them, but it's rare to meet a good one.

Answer 4

They are now pretty much a lot older, or dead - but still philosophising, I would imagine.
I'm not so sure a philosopher can earn a decent living today.

Don W took my answer again

Answer 5

Proof of their theories.

Answer 6

Dead