Study Guide: Chapter 12 — Bad Philosophy

Core Idea

Bad philosophy actively prevents the growth of knowledge — and can capture a science. Copenhagen instrumentalism taught physicists that explaining quantum reality was naive, hardening "shut up and calculate" into criticism-proof doctrine. Bad philosophy doesn't lose debates; it forbids them.

Key Terms

Bad philosophy · instrumentalism · "shut up and calculate" · positivism (self-refuting)

Case Summary

Everett's 1957 multiverse met exile, not refutation; he left physics. Behaviorism did the same to psychology; logical positivism poisoned wells while self-destructing.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Find a question your field's common sense punishes you for asking
• [ ] Check whether a "we're just practical" stance now functions as criticism-immunity
• [ ] Spot strategic simplifications that hardened into doctrine past their usefulness

Self-Test

1. What distinguishes bad philosophy from merely false philosophy?
2. How did instrumentalism capture quantum physics?
3. What's the cheap symmetric test for a question-forbidding doctrine?