As I read Dr. Carroll's blog post, I was reminded encouragingly of how a famous philosopher and Parisian professor[1] – the student of a great medieval experimentalist[2] – in 1265 began his opus magnum with a critique aimed at those who argued that philosophy was the pinnacle of human intellectual pursuit, encompassing all else. See Article One, Question One of the First Part[3] in the Summa Theologica[4]:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_the_Great

[3] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1001.htm

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica