An interesting article, Paul, but it seems to avoid the central issue entirely, which is “what function or purpose can philosophy serve today, when the business of philosophy is no longer merely abstract speculation the results of which are immune to falsification by empirical means?” When we look, for example, at moral philosophy it appears merely naive because abstractions are pointless for a species that is hardwired by evolution to behave in certain ways that have, on average, been “good enough” during most of our evolutionary history to ensure adequate survival and reproduction outcomes. Likewise questions such as “what is our purpose in life” are merely category errors. And of course the “how did we get here” questions are increasingly answered by science in a concrete and demonstrable manner.

In the end, the real problem for philosophy is identical to the real problem for belief in deities. The so-called “god of the gaps” lives in an ever-diminishing universe; the same is true of philosophy.