What is Science?
According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is "knowledge attained through study or practic". Yet this definition does not seem to be complete. It is hard to give an exact definition of science, as we can learn things from many aspects in life and nature. Montaige stated that uncertainty is the only thing that is certain. Science tries to go further than that.
Even though its hard to give a broad definition, as this goes into filosofy of science or even epistemology, here are three widely accepted definitions of science.
Even though its hard to give a broad definition, as this goes into filosofy of science or even epistemology, here are three widely accepted definitions of science.
The only thing certain is that nothing is certain. Montaigne
Three definitions of science
One view called conventionalism states that the human brains created or invented certain beatiful logical structures called laws of nature and then found out special ways, called experiments, to select and collect sensory input data. This data would fit into the patterns ordained by the laws. In this view, the scientist is like a creative artist which works not with marble or paint but with the unorganized sensorial data and sensations from a chaotic world.
A second view of science, called inductivism, considers that the basic principle of science is to collect and classify sensory input data into a form called observable facts. Then the scientist draws by a method called inductive logic general conclusions which are the laws of nature. Francis Bacon argued that this was the only proper scientific method as it focuses on observable facts and not on medieval relience on a logic of limited capabilities. Bacon's definition of science is the most similar to the popular idea of what scientists do.
A third view of science, called deductivism, emphasizes the primary importance of scientific theories. According to Karl Popper, one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century, "Theories are nests cast to catch what we call 'the world': to rationalize, to explain and to master it. We endeavor to make the mesh finer and finer". According to deductivists, there is no valid inductive logic. Deductivists argue that no number of experiments can ever prove a theory or a general statement, but a single experiment can contradict one. General statements can never be proven from particular instances. On the other hand, only one contrary particular instance is needed to disprove the statement. The role of an experiment is therefore to subject the scientific theory to a critical test.
Yet the three philosophies outlined by no means exhaust the variety of efforts made to capture science in the world wide web and in the web of language.
A second view of science, called inductivism, considers that the basic principle of science is to collect and classify sensory input data into a form called observable facts. Then the scientist draws by a method called inductive logic general conclusions which are the laws of nature. Francis Bacon argued that this was the only proper scientific method as it focuses on observable facts and not on medieval relience on a logic of limited capabilities. Bacon's definition of science is the most similar to the popular idea of what scientists do.
A third view of science, called deductivism, emphasizes the primary importance of scientific theories. According to Karl Popper, one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century, "Theories are nests cast to catch what we call 'the world': to rationalize, to explain and to master it. We endeavor to make the mesh finer and finer". According to deductivists, there is no valid inductive logic. Deductivists argue that no number of experiments can ever prove a theory or a general statement, but a single experiment can contradict one. General statements can never be proven from particular instances. On the other hand, only one contrary particular instance is needed to disprove the statement. The role of an experiment is therefore to subject the scientific theory to a critical test.
Yet the three philosophies outlined by no means exhaust the variety of efforts made to capture science in the world wide web and in the web of language.
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To know more about the etymology of the word science, click here.