Which came first, God or philosophy? Think carefully.
Anyway, I just think it's fair to mention one of Hawking's destinguished contemporaries, the South African
George FR Ellis. (
Winner of the 2004 Templeton prize).
Beyond ethics, Ellis contends that there are many areas that cannot be accounted for by physics. “Even hard-headed physicists have to acknowledge a number of different kinds of existence” beyond the basics of atoms, molecules and chemicals, he said in his prepared remarks. Directly challenging the notion that the powers of science are limitless, Ellis noted the inability of even the most advanced physics to fully explain factors that shape the physical world, including human thoughts, emotions and social constructions such as the laws of chess.
Philosophy represent the fact that humans have discovered that the road to truth and understanding is not just an empyrical exercise. Philosophy didn't die as science gained momentum - it grew exponentially as people tried to
understand how it all fit together not only on a cold physical level.
It is because of the very nature of science that these limits exist; they will therefore remain, irrespective of scientific advances that may be made in the future. Essentially, investigations of the foundations of science are beyond the scope of science itself.
In philosophy, it isn't so easy to deny God's existence, because it doesn't by its nature propose a purely physical world - it
must take into account what people think about the metaphysical, about God and who He is. And who He is depends on what we know of Him - where
philosophy meets religion. Theology limits itself to specific areas of knowledge - such as revelation and tradition.
To simply say that God is a metaphor of philosophy denies that God exists outside philosophy. It makes religion a natural science indistinguishable from pantheism.
