Philosophy was at one stage a cutting edge part of science, in fact it predates science and was the birth of what we today call “reason”. Over the years as biologists described cells, chemists figured out the reactions of life and physicists stared deep into the atom, philosophy kind of fell behind and lost its throne.

Philosophy still has a place though, it sits in the blind spot of science. It asks questions that science knows it can’t yet answer. Good on you philosophy. The problem is, philosophy isn’t a science so it asks all these really hard and annoying questions and then just shrugs its shoulders, says “you figure it out” and wanders off into the night.

Here are five questions which philosophy has puked on to the face of science and refuses to clean off.

1) Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

This isn’t a question that pops into scientist’s heads too often. Science is hungry to figure out the things we have got around us rather than try to figure out why there is anything here in the first place. It’s a good question though, if a little annoying, I mean what would the alternative to “something” be like? What would “nothing” look like? Would it just be pitch black? But then if it is coloured black, it isn’t nothing, so it would have to be completely clear, but if it was clear what would you see on the other side, or would it stretch on forever? But if it stretched on forever, what is stretching?

“Nothing” is a bit of a git to try and get a handle on. No one can explain why this Universe full of stuck together atoms is here rather than not here. It just is. But that’s the worst answer to any question ever.

2) Does God Exist?

Now there’s a question that can get pulses racing and fists pumping. Does God exist? Well, you tell me. No one can know. You just can’t. Many millions of people have read about the existence of a God or Gods in a book that a human wrote a while ago, but that’s not enough evidence on its own. On the other side of the coin some people are willing to say that there definitely isn’t a God.

In reality, no one can know. We have a really good idea about how life evolved on earth, and maybe even some clues as to how life first came about. We have a good theory as to how the earth and the solar system it sits in were created. But science has its limits. What happened before everything?

Everyone has their own take on this one; religious people have their own versions of events, deists simply believe in a God of some description, agnostics aren’t sure either way and atheists say there defo ain’t a higher being.

Basically, your guess is as good as mine. We don’t need philosophers to ask or answer this question and there really is no point in even debating it. YOU CAN’T KNOW. Shall we move on?