And Damon Linker offers a nice rebuttal to Tyson.

Did you know that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a philistine? It’s true! In defense of philosophy @TheWeek @zackbeauchamp http://t.co/gPAz2HloHF

— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) May 6, 2014

I love this passage from Linker’s essay:

Tyson is right about one thing: Philosophy is primarily about posing questions. But he’s wrong to view such questioning as a pernicious waste of time. If Socrates is to be believed, it may actually be the best way of life for a human being — and quite possibly the only way to avoid the dogmatism to which all thinking is prone, and to which Tyson himself certainly has fallen prey.

The world has plenty of celebrities and not enough philosophers.

Read Linkers full essay here.