As a research scientist myself nothing gets under my skin so deeply as hearing fellow scientists disparaging philosophy. Typically it comes from these so called “popularizers” of science who spend their days not on the bench, or in the lab or the field actually practicing science, but rather on the couch or in front of a screen dispensing their wisdom upon the unwashed masses. Within the sciences themselves, among actual practicing scientists, these people have about as much street cred as Joey Fatone. To think that they could have anything useful to say about a topic as deep, rich, and diverse as philosophy is the height of hubris. They barely have anything useful to say about their supposed topics of specialty in science. Most scientists are lovers of philosophy because most/all scientists are critical thinkers. You cannot practice critical thinking without practicing philosophy. Research scientists spend their days doing philosophy. In a sense they are the practical application of philosophy that these dead-enders are always railing philosophy for not having. It is ironic that those who protest the most about the uselessness of philosophy are those that have benefited the most from it’s actual use