Most disciplines within the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities in fact evolved from philosophy – which means that contemporary philosophy was left behind as a strangely structured remnant of this process. Since then, many disciplines have undergone a rapid independent development in which they have tried to distance themselves from their mother discipline and to cast off any stubborn and allegedly fruitless questions.
These attempts have not always been successful: On the one hand, philosophical questions tend to continuously reappear in empirical disciplines. On the other hand, contemporary philosophy has to rely heavily on empirical results gained in other disciplines. This development has led to a complex relationship between philosophy and the empirical disciplines that is problematic, challenging and fruitful at the same time. I will analyze this relationship by means of selected examples.