Why do people think that computer science gives them the authority to pontificate on any topic of their choosing? Clearly the author has no idea what they are talking about, as by their own admission, "I’ve only taken 1 metaphysics class" and has a "suspicion" about the entire field. And even considering the question of "is all philosophy simply word confusion" would get you laughed out of the room by any philosophy grad student. You wouldn't like it if some philosophy student wrote blog posts about how P=NP without having the slightest knowledge of the field, so afford other areas of study the same respect.
Hey, bkoa. I actually just graduated with a master's degree in philosophy from Tufts University, one of the top philosophy programs in the country. (I also studied philosophy in undergrad.)
I'm perfectly happy with admitting that I don't know a lot about metaphysics and I'm perfectly happy for people to call me out on this point. (In fact, I call myself out on this point in a footnote in my post.) I just wanted to set the record straight: I am not merely a comp sci person who feels that he has the authority to "pontificate on any topic of their choosing."
Why does it matter? If an 8 year old wanted to pontificate on metaphysics, I would gladly listen to and engage them. And maybe I would learn something. Not all exchange has to be professionally compiled knowledge being bestowed to laypeople. I kind of think everyone can learn something from everybody on most any topic.
Within a discussion I think it makes sense to interpret statements based on the speaker and their epistemology. But that doesn't mean you can't have a conversation.
Philosophy touches many different fields and it seems quite natural to me that interested people explore the border regions. If you are a physicist or even if you are only interested in physics it is quite easy to recognize that there is a problem with the idea of free will. Or if you are a neurobiologist. Mathematicians naturally get into contact with logic, proofs, knowledge and the like. Or think of linguists. Not that any of them would be a full-fledged philosopher but there are for sure areas of philosophy where people from other professions naturally have something to say.
