Simon Bridge said:
Sometimes someone will use the word "why" in a manner that implies that they will be satisfied with a "how" answer - yes. You will get responses like "science is not good at "why" questions" when the matter is not so clear cut.
We don't do this to be pedantic or difficult.
In PF we often get people looking for answers that science does not provide. Even when they are not - often forcing a questioner to rephrase the question more carefully helps them reason out the kind of answer science does provide.
Most of us have been doing this scientific answers thing for a long time.
There is nothing at all wrong with a "why" question that can't also be wrong with a "who", "what", "where", "how" or "when" question. The word "why" should really not be red flagged as a matter of course. I think "what" questions are potentially a lot more unanswerable: "What is a photon?", "What is a magnetic field?", "What is gravity?", "What is an electron?" You can fill many books with what we know about, say, photons, but what we know about them doesn't exactly answer the question of what they are because they are a thing unto themselves. Asking
what they are is often asking for a description of them in terms of other, more familiar phenomena, but it turns out they can't be accurately described that way. That being so for photons and the other things I listed, you might feel tempted to assert, "physics doesn't do 'what' questions." But that's not the case. It does do "what" questions when it can. Science also answers "why" questions when it can, as well as "how" questions.
Simon Bridge said:
Aside: take a look at this list of "
8 simple questions science cannot answer" ... most of them are either phrased as "why" questions or are "why" questions in disguise.
Lets have a look:
#8 Why we sleep
Science doesn't answer this, not because it's a "why" question, but because it hasn't found an incontrovertible answer (according to the site). We actually don't know for sure why we have to sleep, only that it's very bad for us if we're deprived of it for very long.
#7 How many planets in our solar system?
This is not a "why" question in disguise.
#6 Why Ice Is Slippery
Science doesn't answer this, not because it's a "why" question, but because it hasn't found an incontrovertible answer (according to the site).
#5 How a Bicycle Works
Here again, not a "why" question in disguise.
#4 How to Beat Solitaire
Not a "why" question in disguise.
#3 How Many Species of Animal Exist
Not a "why" question in disguise.
#2 The Length of the U.S. Coastline (Or Any Coastline, For That Matter)
Not a "why" question in disguise.
#1 How Gravity Works
Not a "why" question in disguise.
I don't find your characterization: "... most of them are either phrased as "why" questions or are "why" questions in disguise..." to be true.