Suggestion for New General Discussion Header

[Feeble Wonk]

I'd like to suggest a new header for your "General Discussion" options, which might be something like "Physical Philosophy". I frequently come to Physics Forums for informed opinion on a variety of Physics issues. These inquiries often lead to questions (in my mind anyway) about what modern physics is actually telling us about the nature of existence... about the nature of "reality", so to speak. I understand that this track of thought leads away from academic testable science, and the threads are frequently shut down because of that. But, despite this, I suspect that there are a lot of PF participants like myself that would enjoy those kinds of (admittedly philosophical) discussions, in an intellectual environment that is at least grounded in legitimate scientific inquiry rather than "new age" pseudoscience silliness. I also think there would be great value in having this forum of discussion monitored by your mentors for exactly that reason. Philosophical speculation about scientific concepts, by its very nature, is typically untestable, which is why it's not "science". But the mentor could at least provide some guidance about when a proposed idea is simply "wrong", for scientific reasons. Are there others out there that would have interest in such a forum?

 

[Evo]

We just recently made the decision to shut down the Philosophy sub-forum because it was basically a bunch of people that didn't know the science posting as if they did and then becoming argumentative when attempts were made to correct them. It was a mess and I am afraid it's not something that fits with our mission, as stated in the Global Guidelines. It is something that we do not wish to consider at this time.

 

[Feeble Wonk]

Fair enough. It was just a thought. The "being corrected" part was precisely the value that I was looking for of course, but I see your point.

 

[Bystander]

Are there others out there that would have interest in such a forum?

Member #50 says, "No." That was something that was "tolerated" for far too long, and attracted far more disruptive members and posts than was useful.