Milestones in the development of Science
Miletus/Milesians
- At 600 BC
- What is reality made of?”
-Supernatural explanations is unreliable
Thales of Miletus (624 - 546 BC)
Pythagoras
-571-491 BC
-Equation of a right triangle: c2 = a2 + b2
Aristotle
-384-322 BC
-Induction and deduction
-Promoted systematic observation and thought in biology, physics, law, literature, and ethics
Ptolemy
-Claudius Ptolemaeus
-AD 127-145, Alexandria
-The Earth is the center of the universe (Ptolemaic System/Geocentric Model)
-Excellent mapmaker during his time, recording the coordinates of close to 8,000 locations on his
world map.
-Heliocentric Model
Modern Period of Science
Francis Bacon
-15261-1626
-Physical causes and laws of nature
-Essence of a thing is deducted through a process of reduction, and the use of inductive reasoning.
-Novum Organum Scientiarum or New Instrument of Science was published in 1620 and is a
development of Aristotle’s treatise on logic and syllogism written in the latter’s book “Organon”
Rene Descartes
-1596-1650
- Cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I am)
-Founder of “Rationalism”
- The Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth
Karl Raimund Popper
-Austrian-British professor at the London School of Economics.
-1902-1994
- Realism or Logical Empiricism, modified with the views of Popper, probably is the ‘most received
view” of Western Science in the modern period.
What makes a scientific statement?
This question has been brought to court in the U.S. Judge William R. Overton, laid a set of criteria as
to what makes a scientific theory:
1. It must be guided by natural law
2. It must be explanatory by reference to natural law
3. It is testable against the empirical world
4. Its conclusions are tentative
5. It is falsifiable
First two criteria - has reference to “natural law”
Third criterion - requires that claims can be observed in some way - if it cannot be tested then it is not
scientific.
Fourth criterion - The fourth implies that no matter how much evidence we have found for our
scientific theory, we must be open to the idea that it may be wrong and that new evidence may
disprove it.
David Hume (Empiricist) argued that scientific findings based on observations are true only, in so
much as they have not yet been proven false.
Fifth criterion - implies that theories should be stated in such a way that we can find evidence against
them.
What makes a method of generating knowledge “scientific” or what makes a type of knowledge
“scientific”?
The methodology of science is concerned not only with the discovery of knowledge, but equally also
with the justification of knowledge claims. For knowledge to be termed scientific, a method of inquiry
must be based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.
Observations of the natural world - are the “triggers” towards knowing and understanding nature.
These observations lead toward the formulation of questions. Inquisitiveness is innate to us. Example,
a young child, who in trying to understand what is happening around him or her, would throw us a
never-ending string of “why”, “how”, and “what” questions.
Hypothesis - is a conjecture; a probable answer to the research question or explanation of the
phenomenon, that is based on knowledge obtained while formulating the research question.
Statistical Hypothesis - Conjecture about a population
Knowledge statement/Research Conclusion - is made in the light of data gathered and the analysis of
the data.
Social Science - is concerned with society and the relationships among individuals within a society.
There are two major viewpoints that a social scientist would look at the social world – one is through
the lens of what is called as scientific naturalism and the other through the interpretivist viewpoint.
Scientific naturalism - is a philosophical approach with tools akin to those of the natural sciences.
Interpretivist Social Scientists - use other methods like symbolic interpretation.
Theory Or Law?
1. Both are based on tested hypotheses;
2. Both are supported by a large body of empirical data;
3. Both are widely accepted by the vast majority (if not all) scientists within a discipline
4. Both are falsifiable
A scientific law - describes what happens in a natural phenomenon under certain conditions, and will
predict what will happen as long as those conditions are met. Usually such prediction is
mathematical.
A scientific theory - explains how or why a natural phenomenon happens under certain conditions.
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation - Every point mass attracts every single point mass by a force
pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is directly proportional to the product of
the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses.
Albert Einstein’s General Relativity Theory - the energy and momentum of all matter and radiation
cause curvature in space-time, in a way similar to the creation of electric and magnetic fields by
electric charges and currents. In other words, the object falls (gravity’s effect) is a consequence of the
curvature of four-dimensional space-time.
Scientific law is NOT better than nor above a theory.
A theory is NOT a law in waiting. Both theories and laws have different roles to play.
Not all questions can be answered using the scientific approach
Even if we know the effect of chemicals such as dopamine, we still don’t understand the why of being
happy.
Technology - coined in the early 17th century and being derived from two words - “techne” which
means art of craft, and logia, meaning logic. Systematic treatment or plan.
The price of technology - Social Isolation, Job loss, Increased dependency on technology/decreased
competency, data security/privacy, increased potential of destructive conflicts, environmental
degradation, and a lot more.