Ways of Seeing
- Exploring Modern Metaphysics -
SCIENCE - What is it Really?
Science is, simply put, the search for truth. But it is a Verifiable truth that science seeks. This is a limitation of science, for there is, after all, truth that is not currently verifiable. This limitation is also the power of science, because its truth must be verifiable by any one, any where, any time.
This verification requirement shows in the Methodology of science which must always be followed: first observe something, then propose a theory to explain it, and lastly test the theory by proposing experiments that should yield results predicted by the theory that have not yet been observed.
After enough verification by enough people a theory becomes "accepted". But all it takes is one experiment by one person to prove a theory wrong. Once the word gets around and others perform the experiment and get the same contradictory results the theory is modified to account for the new results or, in some cases, the theory is replaced by a new one. Thus there is no final truth of science.
Even theories that have withstood experiments by many people for hundreds of years get proven wrong sometimes. For instance, Newton proposed a theory to account for motion that says, among other things, that if a person is walking forward at 5 miles per hour on a train that is moving north at 10 miles per hour then the person will be moving north at 15 miles per hour relative to the ground. This was proven wrong by Einstein's Theory of Relativity which puts the sum at something slightly less than 15. We still use Newton's method at low speeds for practical reasons, because it is very nearly true and easy to figure, but as the speeds get higher (approaching the speed of light which is 186,000 miles per second) simple addition calculations based upon Newton's theory are now known to be grossly incorrect.
If, for example, the train were going three quarters the speed of light and the person was running at half the speed of light Newton would calculate that the person was going one and one quarter the speed of light relative to the ground. We now know from experiments that this is incorrect and that the true calculation, a bit more complicated, gives an answer somewhat less than the speed of light.
The following quote, from some unknown source, aptly shows the spirit and intent of science: "Subject to the push of scrutiny, all scientific suppositions sit at truth's precarious edge."
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