Which is funny, because the highest degree awarded to the majority of research scientists is the PhD, or Doctorate of Philosophy.
I took a philosophy class once and hated it. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound? Oh my goodness, what an incredible level of arrogance must have existed in the person who came up with that gem! The physical processes of the universe really do not care if people even exist or not! Sheesh.
Regardless of my strong distaste for philosophy, I still like to put those letters, "Ph.D." after my name.
Very different meanings for the word “philosophy”.... the contemporary academic discipline of philosophy is what remains after many other academic disciplines (including all of what we now call the natural “sciences”) have carved out their own turf over many generations.
Centuries ago, “natural philosophy” was a standard term referring to all of the intellectual terrain which would eventually become known as the natural sciences.
At the very old University of Cambridge (UK), there are still professorships of “natural philosophy” which are held by distinguished contemporary scientists, such as this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonian_Professor_of_Natural_Philosophy
A holdover from the 18th century, as is the “Doctor of Philosophy” term for the degree which is awarded in so many fields of research which have nothing to do with what is nowadays referred to as “philosophy.”