There were times when philosophy and science were not yet separated: the golden age of philosophy.
Now we have science and we have philosophy. Putting logic aside, since it now belongs rather to mathematics, I’d like to ask, can philosophy solve a problem? Any problem. Can philosophy produce a result that anybody (outside of mental institution) will agree with?
The very fact that you are answering a philosophical question tells me that you do believe in philosophy's power to give answers. Being a philosophical question about philosophy's value, if you answer negatively, you are being inconsistent, because you are philosophically stating that you can't give adequate answers through philosophy.
I'd like to remark that you CAN'T put logic aside from any de facto rational activity. This is true for philosophy and for science. If you remove logic, you enter an irrational domain which isn't studied by philosophy nor science.
Jorge, I do not question “philosophy's power to give answers”. I do question philosophy power to give RIGTH answers. Philosophy is good at questioning, bad at answering. By the way, “putting aside logic” in my question means just removing from consideration logic as a subject of study (formal logic, if you will), which has nothing to do with illogical activity.
Alright. If that is your question, I would ask if humans are at all capable, by any means accessible to them, to give any right answer at all. And by right I mean universal, absolute, indisputable right, and also that the fact that an answer is right is not accidental.
So, if I drop an object, it will fall, right? Well, I do believe that, and I would have a very hard time trying to prove the contrary. But is this true always and everywhere? Probably not. I must make a number of assumptions about preconditions and circumstances just to state something like "bodies fall". These are perhaps trivial and need not be explicitly stated, but nevertheless they are there.
I see the same kind of thing going on in philosophical issues. If concepts are rigorously defined and certain plausible things are assumed, I believe philosophy can deliver some right answers to clearly posed questions framed within this predefined context.
Dear Dr. Vladimir Dusevich,
Yes, it can because Philosophy is genesis of any mission. Since mission is a target process of achieving goals and hence helps in solving problems.
Philosophy can offer ways to look at your problem and reevaluate it. Think of Copernican Revolution; Ptolemian world is much more grounded on common sense however it cannot offer you solutions that are compatible with your data; if you are Tycho. So, philosophy can offer you perspectives that are alternatives to common sense and it is your duty to select the right choice compatible with your experiments.
Think of Newtonian absolute space and time. Einstein rejected the idea and make them relative following the example of Kant who is a German philosopher. And latter alternative really worked.
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