Of course; semantics refers to meaning of words; obviously disagreement between two parties will be about the meaning of words. Probably, you mean "polemics."
Physicists are professional doctors of philosophy; by tradition; they own the right to define any theoretical subject and they defined physics as the fundamental science defining nature; which is not correct. Physics is just one way of looking at nature.
No, I mean this is a confusion about the meaning of a word (namely, "physics") not a dispute about facts (empirical or normative).
By the way, saying an argument boils down to semantics is not vacuous. If I disagree with Bob about whether the moon will be full tonight, we have no disagreement or misunderstanding about the meaning of words.
Comments
"I think this is semantics"
Of course; semantics refers to meaning of words; obviously disagreement between two parties will be about the meaning of words. Probably, you mean "polemics."
Physicists are professional doctors of philosophy; by tradition; they own the right to define any theoretical subject and they defined physics as the fundamental science defining nature; which is not correct. Physics is just one way of looking at nature.
> Probably, you mean "polemics."
No, I mean this is a confusion about the meaning of a word (namely, "physics") not a dispute about facts (empirical or normative).
By the way, saying an argument boils down to semantics is not vacuous. If I disagree with Bob about whether the moon will be full tonight, we have no disagreement or misunderstanding about the meaning of words.
"this is a confusion about the meaning of a word (namely, "physics")"
I agree; http://science1.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/definition-of-physi... "physics" is a pun; and this is how physicists like it.