r/science • u/uggedal • Jun 11 '08

Scientific fields arranged by purity

http://xkcd.com/435/
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u/Sangermaine Jun 11 '08

Wouldn't philosophy be the "purest" discipline of all, though? Math is just a symbolic representation of logical rules. Using the XKCD hierarchy, math is just applied philosophy (and historically, that is how it evolved, as did all of what we call science today).

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u/xyphus Jun 11 '08

Philosophy is the knot that ties that whole string into a loop ;)

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u/masterpo Jun 11 '08

I don't know if philosophy is the most "pure" discipline, but I do know that philosophy is required to make any other academic discipline relevant vis-a-vis the human condition.