Tyson's disdain for philosophy makes him sound like every other philistine yelling at his university-bound child that "a philosophy degree won't get you a job." We're more into credentialing than education these days.

I've always liked Tyson's sharp, no-nonsense debunking of anti-science, which means I'm genuinely shocked to learn of his crass rejection of philosophy as a valid intellectual pursuit. (And by the way, his characterization of philosophy as "the sound of one hand clapping" shows he misunderstands both western philosophy and Zen: that quote refers to the cliché stand-in for all Zen koans, which by definition are meant to create a short-circuit in our logic switches.)

Wasn't science as recently as Newton's lifetime referred to as "natural philosophy"? Science is not just about empirical knowledge. The greatest achievements have been the result of speculation, which requires the coherent worldview that philosophy provides. There is no "useless knowledge" under the sun.

I will confess, however, that, empirically, I am now questioning my apparently illogical belief in Neil deGrasse Tyson.