Chapter 1.What is science? This que

Chapter 1.
What is science? This question may seem easy to answer: everybody knows that subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology constitute science, while subjects such as art, music, and theology do not. But when as philosophers we ask what science is, that is not the sort of answer we want. We are not asking for a mere list of the activities that are usually called “science”. Rather, we are asking what common feature all the things on that list share, i.e. what it is that makes something a science. Understood this way, our question is not so trivial.
But you may still think the question is relatively straightforward. Surely science is just the attempt to understand, explain, and predict the world we live in? This is certainly a reasonable answer. But is it the whole story? After all, the various religions also attempt to understand and explain the world, but religion is not usually regarded as a branch of science. Or consider history. Historians try to understand and explain what happened in the past, but history is usually classified as an arts subject not a science subject. As with many philosophical questions, the question “what is science?” turns out to be trickier than it looks at sight.
Many people believe that the distinguishing features of science lie in the particular methods scientists use to investigate the world. This suggestion is quite plausible. For many sciences do employ distinctive methods of enquiry that are not found in non-scientific disciplines. An obvious example is the use of experiments, historically marks a turning-point in the development of modern science. Not all the sciences are experimental though-astronomers obviously cannot do experiments on heavens, but have to content themselves with carefull observation instead. The same is true of many social sciences. Another important feature of science is the construction of theories. Scientists do not simply record the results of experiment and observation in a log book - they usually want to explain those results in terms of a general theory. This is not always easy to do, but these have been some striking successes. One of the key problems in philosophy of science is to understand how techniques such as experimentation, observation, and theory-construction have enabled scientists to unravel so many of nature’s secrets.

Kết quả (Anh) 1:

Chapter 1.What is science? This question may seem easy to answer: everybody knows that subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology constitute science, while subjects such as art, music, and theology do not. But when as philosophers we ask what science is, that is not the sort of answer we want. We are not asking for a mere list of the activities that are usually called "science". Rather, we are asking what common feature all the things on that list share, i.e. what it is that makes something a science. Understood this way, our question is not so trivial. But you may still think the question is relatively straightforward. Surely science is just the attempt to understand, explain, and predict the world we live in? This is certainly a reasonable answer. But is it the whole story? After all, the various religions also attempt to understand and explain the world, but religion is not usually regarded as a branch of science. Or consider history. Historians try to understand and explain what happened in the past, but history is usually classified as an arts subject not a science subject. As with many philosophical questions, the question "what is science?" turns out to be trickier than it looks at sight. Many people believe that the distinguishing features of science lie in the particular methods scientists use to investigate the world. This suggestion is quite plausible. For many sciences do employ distinctive methods of enquiry that are not found in non-scientific disciplines. An obvious example is the use of experiments, which historically marks a turning-point in the development of modern science. Not all the sciences are experimental though-astronomers obviously cannot do experiments on the heavens, but have to content themselves with carefull observation instead. The same is true of many social sciences. Another important feature of science is the construction of theories. Scientists do not simply record the results of experiment and observation in a log book-they usually want to explain those results in terms of a general theory. This is not always easy to do, but these have been some striking successes. One of the key problems in philosophy of science is to understand how techniques such as observation, experimentation, and theory-construction have enabled scientists to unravel so many of nature's secrets.