>How can an accordance with fact be merely an "advantage"? And, conversely, how can dissonance with facts be merely a "drawback"?

I believe part of the reason philosophy has this estranged relationship with science is because science has a tendency to lend itself to phrasings that claim science has truth.  As long as science does that, it's hard for philosophy to give credence to theories which are less convenient, scientifically speaking.  It needs some space to breathe, so to speak.

You state that relativity is a fact.  It is not.  Even if we use the scientific definition of the word "fact," the facts are the individual observations we have made about the universe, such as the time delays on GPS satellites.  Relativity is a theory.  It is a theory which is consistent with most of the facts.

I use that phrasing intentionally.  We *know* there's something to be refined in either relativity or quantum mechanics, because our current understanding of those two theories is incompatible when it comes to gravity.  At least one of them will have to be tweaked at some point.  Just some food for thought.

Now, you are surprised that agreement with a *theory* is merely seen as an advantage.  You shun a philosophy for failing to align with your preferred theory.  Now take that for a moment, and see why you see such an estranged relationship between philosophy and science might come forth.

There's work going on in philosophy all the time.  Perhaps the "disadvantaged" theory of the nature of time had some really beneficial attributes, and all it needed was an update to the 21th century.  Maybe you'll be the philosopher to take that theory and align it with modern relativistic thinking to create a theory that is consistent with science.  The other theory has the advantage that the work is already done for you, but does that mean we should dismiss this theory outright?

Thus, your professor shows both theories, and merely mentions that one has an advantage over the other.  The rest is left up to you.


  [1]: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time/