I rather expected a reply in this vein -- that, in essence, Wikipedia is not the ultimate authority on the definition of a term. It's the most convenient one to hand, however. I can go elsewhere, and now I shall. In particular, my source for the following quotations is
Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged and particularly the 1971 printing of that tome. It's another book I have to hand.
(As an aside: if you say, "well, the dictionary isn't a good place to find
my definitions of the words I am using" then you are failing to communicate with me. I am not a telepath.)
Here's the big one.
Quote:
philosophy 1a: a love or pursuit of wisdom: a search for the underlying causes and principles of reality b: a quest for truth through logical reasoning rather than factual observation c: a critical examination of the grounds for fundamental beliefs and an analysis of the basic concepts employed in the expression of such beliefs d: a synthesis of learning 2a: archaic the study of natural phenomena b: the study of the principles of human nature and conduct c: a science that comprises all learning exclusive only of technical precepts and practical arts d: the coordinate discplines of sciences and liberal arts exclusive only of medicine, law and theology e: a science that comprises logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics and epistemology 3a: a system of motivating beliefs, concepts, and principles b: a basic theory concerning a particular subject, process or sphere of activity, usually used with of 4a: the sum of an individual's ideas and convictions: personal attitude b: calmness of temper and judgment befitting a philosopher
Now, the question, "what is philosophy" is naturally a very hard one to answer. Noah Webster did a pretty good job though. In particular, when I hear the word, my own understanding matches the denotations 1b and 1c. Even Noah Webster, though, writing at the beginning of the nineteenth century, considered the denotations 2a through 2e "archaic" -- and those are the ones that such as Isaac Newton would have used to describe themselves in context. Newton was a natural philosopher, and maybe he was a scientist; but, in his work on optics and gravity and mathematics, he wasn't a philosopher in the denotations 1b and 1c above.
Quote:
natural philosophy: the study of nature in general
Easy enough. Thus, if we use Mr Webster's definition, then, we can say that ...
Quote:
science 1a: possession of knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding; knowledge as a personal attribute b: knowledge possessed or attained through study or practice 2a: a branch or department of systematized knowledge that is or can be made a specific object of study b: something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge c: studies mainly in the works of ancient and modern philosophers formerly taught as a group or field of specialization d: any of the individual subjects taught at an educational institution in on of the departments of natural science 3a: accumulated and accepted knowledge that has been systematized and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths or the operation of general laws; knowledge classified and made available in work, life, or the search for truth; comprehensive, profound or philosophical knowledge, esp. knowledge obtained and tested through use of the scientific method b: such knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena 4: a branch of study that is concerned with observation and classification of facts and esp. with the establishment or strictly with the quantitative formulation of verifiable general laws chiefly by induction and hypotheses 5: a system based or purporting to be based upon scientific principles: a method (as of arrangement, functioning) reconciling practical or utiliatarian ends with scientific laws 5: usu cap CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Whoa! There are lots of different meanings for "science", but again, in context, I believe we are using denotation 3a. It refers to the ...
Quote:
scientific method: the principles and procedures used in the systematic pursuit of intersubjectively accessible knowledge and involving as necessary conditions the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection fo data through observation and if possible experiment, the formulation of hypotheses, and the testing and confirmation of the hypotheses formulated
Thus, science (in denotation 3a above anyway) is far different from philosophy (of denotations 1b and 1c). If we are going to play games with definitions, we must state the rules. Mr Webster and his intellectual heirs produced a 2662-page rule book for us.
But perhaps you say that English is a slippery language, one where (as shown above) any given word can have a large number of denotations, or possibly so many denotations and connotations that without context, it cannot be understood at all. Even then, the whole idea of a context might be ambiguous. True enough also. If you prefer to use another language, one where every symbol within it is unambiguous, there are such languages available to you.
Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll wrote:
`When _I_ use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful
tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor
less.'
`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you CAN make words mean
so many different things.'
`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master -
- that's all.'
Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute
Humpty Dumpty began again. `They've a temper, some of them --
particularly verbs, they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do
anything with, but not verbs -- however, _I_ can manage the whole
of them! Impenetrability! That's what _I_ say!'
`Would you tell me, please,' said Alice `what that means?`
`Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty,
looking very much pleased. `I meant by "impenetrability" that
we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well
if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't
mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'
`That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a
thoughtful tone.
`When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty
Dumpty, `I always pay it extra.'
`Oh!' said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other
remark.
`Ah, you should see `em come round me of a Saturday night,'
Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to
side: `for to get their wages, you know.'
(Alice didn't venture to ask what he paid them with; and so you
see I can't tell YOU.)