Reply to "Scientists Speak About Intelligent Design"

quote:

Originally posted by CrustyMac:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Gray:
Hi Y'all,

While I know that you look down your very knowledgeable noses at those guys who have only the title "Philosopher of Science" or the title of "Philosopher of Biology" and such; I wonder if you know what that means. Have you ever wondered, or cared, what the letters Ph.D. mean? Well, to be sure you have a well rounded education -- Ph.D. means: "Doctorate of Philosophy" in different fields, i.e., a person with a Ph.D. in Biology can also be called a "Philosopher of Biology" -- or a "Doctor of Philosophy in Biology" as a person chooses.

A list of advanced degrees taken from a college web site:

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology:
Doctor of Philosophy

Biology :
Master of Science
Master of Science (Research)
Doctor of Philosophy

Biomedical Engineering:
Master of Science
Master of Science (Research)
Doctor of Philosophy

Chemistry:
Master of Science
Master of Science (Research)
Doctor of Philosophy (Integrated & Applied Sciences)

But, I guess these do not match your Ph.D. in BS. Or as one of our Used Car Salesmen Duo likes to say, "It's only MIT. What do they know?"

Y'all come back now, ya heah?

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

Thanks for the explanation, Bill. I'm a total moron, and appreciate being talked down to.

However, having never heard any of my Ph.D. friends refer to themselves as philosophers of biology or philosophers of physics, I was obviously confused. Usually, these people call themselves biologists or physicists.

Thanks for setting me straight... oh, wait, when I look up philosophy of biology, I get this explanation:

"Philosophy of biology

Main article: Philosophy of biology

Philosophy of biology deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant), philosophy of biology only emerged as an independent field of philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s. Philosophers of science then began paying increasing attention to developments in biology, from the rise of Neodarwinism in the 1930s and 1940s to the discovery of the structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid in 1953 to more recent advances in genetic engineering. Other key ideas such as the reduction of all life processes to biochemical reactions as well as the incorporation of psychology into a broader neuroscience are also addressed."

They aren't scientists at all, just philosophers. I'm pretty sure your Ph.D. friends will be pretty irked that you are comparing them to philosophical hacks.

Duke offers a degree in Philosophy of Biology. I notice that it is through the philosophy department and requires a couple of 200 level courses in biology. Hardly makes these people biologists. However, they will earn a Ph.D., so my calling them "hacks" is probably unkind, unless they are misrepresenting themselves as scientists, which you were.