The 20th and 21st centuries have been dominated by science and the technology it has spawned. However we need to consider what actually is the meaning of science.
We can start by considering a number of different things that are thought to be scientific - physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography and many other subjects.
Discuss what is the common thread that runs through these different subjects that allow us to call them scientific?
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4 comments:
This is interesting. I think I would start from the ground up. Humans gained the ability to manipulate the physical world to achieve greater strenth, power and comfort.
The more knowledge and understanding we had the more successful we could be.
In this way knowledge became valued in and for itself. Branches of knowledge were born which later became branches of science.
All the sciences you name work by observation of the physical universe and the formulation of truths.
The next stage is to establish who carried out the first genuinely scientific experiment - and in which science was this?
I think to establish who carried out the first scientific experiment we need to ask what constitutes a scientific experiment. It cannot simply be observation or observation over time. Some way of verifying the truth of what we observe is required. Initially I would think that repetition is necessary because one observation cannot establish a truth.
I would suggest that one of the earliest modern day scientists was Galileo. If I am not mistaken scientific observation was only the second element that made his work scientific. Obviously he observed the world around him in a normal day to day way. Somethings puzzled him so he came up with an idea, for instance all masses (regardless of their weight) if released from the same height will fall to earth in equal time. It was this idea that Galileo put to test by observing this phenomenon probably several times.
To me the word science means knowledge. Is a system that uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural fact’s of life.
Science to my belief is the study of living organisms, force , electricity, atoms, molecules etc.
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