What is Science?
Science investigates natural phenomena of every conceivable
sort -- from the physical to the biological to the social. Scientists
study everything from events occurring at the time of the formation
of the universe to the stages of human intellectual and emotional
development to the migratory patterns of butterflies. Judging
by its subject matter, then, science is the study of very nearly
everything.
The essential characteristics of science are:
- It is guided by natural law;
- It has to be explanatory by reference to natural law;
- It is testable against the empirical world;
- Its conclusions are tentative, i.e., are not necessarily
the final word; and
- It is falsifiable.
Scientists theorize about things, organize vast research projects,
build equipment, dig up relics, take polls, run experiments
on everything from people to protons to plants; the list is
almost endless. A description of science in terms of the sorts
of things "scientists do," then, does not reveal much
about the nature of science, for there does not seem to be anything
scientists typically do. Said another way, there is little that
scientists do not do.
Prof. Fred L. Wilson,
Rochester Institute of Technology
Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself
the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the
greatest teachers in the preceeding generation . . .As a matter
of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the
belief in the ignorance of experts.
Richard Feynman, Nobel-prize-winning physicist,
in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
as quoted in American Scientist v. 87, p. 462 (1999). |
The San Benito Consolidated Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in providing education or providing access to benefits of education services, activities, and programs, including vocational programs in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. |
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