Remembering the great geneticist Boncinelli by clarifying that science does not replace philosophy

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In memory of the great geneticist Edoardo Boncinelli , who recently passed away, Repubblica republished an interview with the significant title: "Enough with philosophers, we only trust science," given on the occasion of Boncinelli's successful book , The Butterfly and the Chrysalis . The book reiterates one of his thesis: philosophy represents a bygone era, and science has now supplanted it. Philosophy is considered something "beautiful, entertaining, and valuable," but also "useless, if not misleading." This is an opinion shared today by many, partly with good reason. If we treat philosophy as a historical list of theses defended by philosophers throughout the course of Western thought, Boncinelli is not entirely wrong . It would be as if science studied hypotheses that later proved to be wrong: from phlogiston to the homunculus. Entertaining, but not very useful. However—and it is a great disappointment that we cannot continue this conversation with the geneticist—that is not philosophy. At best, it is the history of philosophy (a legitimate discipline, but by its very nature, it looks to the past); At worst, it's what the American writer Robert Pirsig called "philosophology." Philosophology is a degeneration of the genuine philosophical attitude: a withdrawal of thought into itself and its authors . Instead of looking at reality, the philosophologist looks to the words of other authors, which he expertly mixes, demonstrating his knowledge of famous thinkers and his ability to reformulate their theses, mastering styles and sources. If this were philosophy, I would agree with Boncinelli. But that's not the case.

Philosophy is first and foremost an attitude toward reality: it is the attempt not to be guided by words or opinions. It is free thought, on the border between life and knowledge; it is what comes before, not after, scientific knowledge. It does not compete with science to validate empirical statements, but rather serves to retrace our steps and regain a virgin—and therefore fertile—perspective. Every time we formulate a thesis, about the Sun or DNA, we presuppose something, otherwise we could say nothing. But these preconceptions, wrote Johannes Kepler (a contemporary of Galileo), are the "thieves of our time" and govern us without our awareness. It has always been this way, and there is no reason why it should be any different today. Certainly, in a hundred years, scientists of the future will look back at our time and be amazed at the many prejudices that today condition our understanding of reality. There is only one antidote, and it is called philosophy. Finally, there are those existential questions that remain outside empirical knowledge and that tell us why it's worth living in the world, that point to a reason for knowing, that satisfy our hunger for meaning. Science, by its very nature, provides no answers to these questions. But that doesn't mean they must remain in a limbo of irrationality or arbitrariness. The slumber of reason breeds monsters; the philosophical attitude awakens us.

Philosophy, as an open attitude toward what is still unknown and can overturn everything we believed, is crucial today more than ever, because we live in a transformative era—precisely because of the technological innovations brought about by science. But when everything changes, it is more essential than ever to question the meaning of what is happening: not only by describing its mechanisms, but also by asking questions about the nature and purpose of reality. If we don't, we will be the victims of someone else, or something, who will govern our actions. Science is effective because it operates within a framework that simplifies reality and structures it into empirically verifiable statements. Philosophy—when it is not philosophology—is that open attitude that constitutes the condition of our autonomy and freedom . I believe Boncinelli was picking on philosophologists. Who can blame him?

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