Introduction

Before the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists were called natural philosophers. And that wasn’t taken to mean philosophers who didn’t wear any make-up and just went with a natural look. In fact, have you seen the wigs that some of these people were wearing? Ain’t nothing natural about that.

No, what being a natural philosopher meant was that you were a philosopher studying nature. The word philosophy comes from ancient Greek and means “love of wisdom”, so you were a “lover of wisdom” studying nature. You didn’t think stuffy 18th century science had so much poetry in it, did you?

Since then however, “natural philosophers” got rebranded into scientists, “natural philosophy” became science, and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck split up…and then got back together. The world never stops spinning!

What’s the effect of the change in name from “natural philosophy” to “science”? Well for one, prior to the rebranding, the transition from natural philosopher to a general philosopher might have not been considered that big of a leap. After all, the name suggested that one was part of the other. That allowed the sci…I mean, the natural philosopher to freely roam the realm of implications for his scientific endeavors, the effect that it would have on the world, how it fits into the larger picture, whether or not it’s ethical to kill unicorns in order to use their horns for medicinal properties...

Nowadays, philosophers and scientists tend to be seen as two different things, and therefore so are their pursuits perceived to diverge. But how can the pursuit of science be divorced from philosophy? Since philosophy is “love of wisdom”, science naturally falls under it no matter the present-day naming, lest it is not wisdom science is searching for…in which case you end up with stuff like a study on the effects of wearing polyester, cotton, or wool trousers on the sex life of rats. ¹

So, this book will be a shout out to all of my natural philosopher homies, in the sense that this term had before scientists became scientists, and philosophers non-science-inclusive philosophers.