(Jacques-Louis David. Portrait of Antoine-Laurent and Marie-Anne Lavoisier. Source)
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(Jacques-Louis David. Portrait of Antoine-Laurent and Marie-Anne Lavoisier.
Source)
Imagine a conversation in a university hallway:
[Scientist] "Science proves that all Zwedelbobs are Krabbus."
[Curious Student] "What is a Zwedelbob, and what is a Krabbu?"
[Scientist] "I have no idea."
[Curious Student] "Isn't it anti-scientific to assert things we don't understand?"
[Scientist] "You're wasting my time. Goodbye."
If you think this conversation is silly, I agree with you. But if you think this conversation is impossible, just go and ask some scientists how to define words like "Science" and "Philosophy", instead of "Zwedelbob" and "Krabbu".
It's amazing to see the number of scientists (and ordinary people who imagine they are "scientific") who have no clear idea what Science is. It's even more amazing to hear these same people assert with such authority that Philosophy is not a Science, or that the Catholic Faith is incompatible with Science, etc.
It appears to me that one the problems with our society these days is that people have often not learnt to tell the difference between their superstitious beliefs about science, and scientific knowledge about science.
Personally, I'm continuing my investigations, in order to answer questions like the following:
3.1) What is Science?
3.2) What are the various "types of knowledge", and why is Science better than the others?
3.3) If Science seeks truth, what is truth? And if Science doesn't care about truth, why should we care about Science? (You are not allowed to cheat by replacing the word "truth" with a synonym.)
3.4) How must we proceed to do good science?
3.5) What is the proper, scientific way of using statistics (as opposed to "lies, damn lies, and statistics")?
3.6) How should the scientific method be applied to such and such a specific Science (there are certainly differences between say Math, and Biology, etc.)?
3.7) What would be a generally recognized textbook on Science? The kind of textbook that all students receive, or should receive, when they enter university?
3.8) Same question as #3.7 above, but for a generally recognized textbook on the scientific method?
Etc., etc.
If you know the answer to this and our other questions about Science, please contact me. I'll be delighted to disseminate your knowledge on this web site. On the other hand, don't trust yourself too lightly. It's a difficult topic, and so far, most of the people I've discussed with had serious shortcomings in their understanding of science.
My teachers always told me that Faith and Science were not the same thing, and that "believing in Science" was anti-scientific. They told me that if you didn't know (as opposed to believe), that if you couldn't prove (or at least make obvious), then what you were doing was not Science.
Were they scientific?
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