Philosophers, Physicists and Cranks

[lenny]

As people like Newton, Hooke and Maxwell showed that vague hand waving was unnecessary and that precise equations could predict how the world and the universe worked, the philosophers had a choice. They could either become scientists, or they could retreat into the strange world of non-science. To their discredit, that is precisely what they have done,

so who are they, these retreating non-science discredited guys? would you name a few?

i may well agree with you that some individuals appear to be of little use;
then again there are people in the philosophy (of science) departments at cambridge or pittsburg, oxford or carnegie mellon (or lots of other places) who say things that make us think, or even think differently, about what we are doing.

and that can be very valuable to a scientist.

not like they "give us the answer", more like they question our questions.

for example, when you say

precise equations could predict how the world and the universe worked

what exactly do you mean by "precise"? Newton's equations are precise in that they are well defined, but in what manner are they precise in terms of describing the motion of a real planet?

philosophers do scientists a great service when they point out we are confusing apples and oranges (or worse, subtracting apple from oranges).