It is a human condition to ask questions. And there are many different types of questions that can be asked. Some questions have short and simple answers, some questions have complex answers, some questions have many answers and some questions have no answers at all. In this discussion I will explore two types of questions that are of concern to scientists namely scientific questions and philosophical questions.
To start this discussion I will look at some examples of the two types of questions that will be under our microscopes. Let us start with the question “does water cool uniformly?” and compare it with the question “why is there life?”
We will start with the first question: “Does water cool uniformly?”. Is this a scientific question or not? First let us be clear what the cooling question means. To start with for water to cool uniformly it means that water cools down at the same rate when it starts cooling, in the middle of the cooling process and when it approaches its lowest temperature.
A good place to start is to ask if the question in focus can have a definite answer that can be agreed upon. Let us look at our question on cooling. "Does water cool uniformly?" Well, it either cools uniformly or it does not cool uniformly. In other words we can say "water cools uniformly" is either true or it is false. So our question on cooling seems to have a clear and precise answer.
The next part of the process is to consider whether the question “does water cool uniformly?” can be answered scientifically. Firstly we should try and write the question in the form of a statement. – "water cools uniformly". When we write the question this way we can see that this statement is true or false. It is this statement that can form the scientific hypothesis. Secondly to decide whether the question can be answered scientifically we need to be able to construct a test or an experiment that will prove the hypothesis true or false.
In summary then, to decide if a question is scientific we need to:
* A scientific question should be able to have a true or false answer.
* A scientific question should be able to be put into a statement that will form a hypothesis.
* A test to prove a hypothesis is true or false can be devised.
We will now consider a philosophical question. “Why is there life?” This generally is recognised as a question that has several possible answers and each answer is likely to bring up many debates. So we cannot say there is a clear precise answer. However, a religious person may argue that there is a clear and precise answer – the existence of God. That person may even go further and suggest an hypothesis, “There is life because God exists. But, what test can be devised to prove this hypothesis true or false?
In summary a philosophical question will:
* Have several possible answers
* The answers will be complex consisting of many parts.
* They are not in general able to be put into a statement that can form a hypothesis, but
Even if they can be put into a hypothesis no test can be devised to prove the hypothesis true or false.
Questions
Identify 3 simple scientific questions and explain why they are scientific.
Identify 2 basic philosophical questions and explain why they are philosophical.
1 comment:
Why cells in human skin divide after injury ? to replace the damaged cells and maintain the function of the skin organ which is cover and protect of more sensitive systems in human organism.
Why paper flame when it is exposed to higher temperature? Because the lit point, (the minimum temperature to initiate a chemical reaction of burn to start) is reached and the conditions of flame reaction are available which are presence of oxygen, fuel (paper in this case) and proper temperature to start the reaction.
Why adding an equal amount to all X,Y,Z in mathematical equation like X+Y=Z will make no change to their rations ? because adding the same amount to different parties in a relation will not affect their proportions in the original ration.
Why God Exists? I answer that from my own limited knowledge , “ Because God is beyond the concept of existence itself then we cannot apply this question to God, that means the question is wrong in sense of measuring the age of God because age is a limiting tool and God is the ultimate concept that we cannot measure or even describe, it is none sense to ask when a boy will dye when he is just born , it is none sense because it is a question that lies beyond human knowledge”.
Can we prove the God exists, By using laws of chemistry of physics or sociology or ethics? Yes, because the creator must leave an evidence of it is makes, e.g. we consider a very good made watch as Swiss made because that nation had proven history that they are the best watchmakers. Another way of answer is be supposing the case that God doesn’t provide evidence of makings or ownership , then simply he is disturbing his makings , because then he is opening the door to claim godeness (false claim of being God by one of it is makings), which happened in ancient civilisations like in Egypt , when pharaons claimed that they are God and nation must warship them.
I believe that religion and philosophy are just branches of science and science is words that describe a collection of knowledge focused on certain subject using certain approaches. So when water cools up a physics scientist will explain that as loss of heat energy from parts of the liquid due to temperature difference between the liquid and its surroundings, while a chemists will describe that as drop in agitation movement of the molecules due to drop in potential energy for particles due to loss of energy due to continuous collisions among the liquid particles.
A philosopher may say (this is a presumption from me), water-cools up because objects in nature in general appeal to reach less disturbed status, since their main goal is to achieve balance and balance with its surroundings.
I think philosophy is just a branch of science as religion too, the deference is on the field that it covers and most important is the tools that uses to give explanations for everything, the concept of existence of an ultimate creator for the universe and all its inhabitants and contents can be described in language of religion based on scripts we honour them by calling them Holly books or messages of God, Chemistry can reach the same conclusion when you see the critical order in atomic structure and huge energy saved in those tiny particles which are so discipline to laws of chemistry, in other words the energy are not released unless certain conditions are available, and no chemical reaction occur unless there is a manager or initiator...the problem with the tools of different branches of Science is that not of them can be sensed , I can see a chemical reaction but religion or philosophy
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