The Role of Science in Society: Goals, Methods, and Limitations
1. Introduction.
Science and scientific research represent a unique field of knowledge. Scientists and researchers express different ideas about the role of science and scientific work. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the role of science in society, its goals and limitations. First, we will explore the definition of science and its goals. Then, we will analyze the methods of science and the role of human observers in the process of scientific research. Finally, we will discuss the limitations of science and the future perspectives of this field.
2. The definition of science.
The term “science” comes from the Latin word “scientia”, which means knowledge. In a broad sense, science is a systematized body of knowledge about the natural world, both physical and biological phenomena (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Science is usually divided into two main branches: natural sciences, which deal with the study of nature, and social sciences, which deal with the study of human behavior.
The goals of science are to explain the phenomena of the natural world and to make predictions about future events (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Science is based on empiricism, which is the philosophy that knowledge comes from experience and observation. Empiricism is opposed to rationalism, which is the philosophy that reason is the only source of knowledge.
3. The goals of science.
The goals of science are to explain the phenomena of the natural world and to make predictions about future events (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Science is based on empiricism, which is the philosophy that knowledge comes from experience and observation. Empiricism is opposed to rationalism, which is the philosophy that reason is the only source of knowledge.
4. The methods of science.
The scientific method is a systematic process that scientists use to collect data, organize information, and test hypotheses (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). The scientific method consists of four steps: observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion.
Observation is the first step in the scientific method. Scientists observe natural phenomena and try to find patterns in those observations. For example, a scientist may observe that a certain plant always grows taller than other plants in its surrounding environment.
Hypothesis is an educated guess about how a phenomenon works. A scientist formulates a hypothesis after observing a pattern in nature. For example, a scientist who observed that a certain plant always grows taller than other plants in its surrounding environment might hypothesize that the plant needs more sunlight than other plants in order to grow tall.
Experiment is a test that scientists conduct in order to verify or disprove their hypotheses. In our example, the scientist would conduct an experiment by growing the plant in different environments with different amounts of sunlight exposure to see if the hypothesis holds true.
Conclusion is the result of an experiment that either supports or disproves a hypothesis. In our example, if the experiment showed that the plant grew taller in environments with more sunlight exposure, then the hypothesis would be supported by evidence and could be considered true. If the experiment showed that there was no difference in height between plants grown in different environments with different amounts of