Science – the search for the explanation of what we observe in nature.
Science – a body of organized knowledge that describes the properties and interactions of the material components of the universe.
Science – a human endeavor limited to the human perspective seeking to understand and explain phenomena occurring in the natural world and the laboratory.
Science – a dynamic (not static) intellectual human endeavor leading us to a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Science – an impersonal process requiring a trained mind with passion, imagination, and patience for details to find patterns, structure, connections, and history within nature.
Science – a data-gathering process so we can better understand ourselves, the natural world around us, and our place in this world.
Science – a process with accepted methodologies trained mind works uses while fighting misconceptions, mistaken observations, and inadequate conclusions.
Science – an intellectual activity using the senses and technology to extend the senses for gathering data to develop an explanation based on evidence and what is already known.
Science – a process and activity requiring a conscious mind that observes, inquires, organizes, interprets, understands, and a willingness to follow acceptable scientific methodologies while staying within nature’s boundaries – yet that does not mean that nothing exists outside of nature’s boundaries.
Science – the study of the material, processes, and forces of the natural world.
Science – not a belief system, but a learning system involving the exploration of natural causes to explain natural phenomena through systemic processes and procedures.
Science – an empirical human endeavor by establishing questions of truth through experimenting and testing without absolutes while remaining open to retesting and reconsideration.
Science – a gift as it brings us new knowledge, yet knowledge that is only for a given point in time because it can change based on newer knowledge. Because of potential development of new knowledge, science must be willing to have what is currently known to be proven wrong.
Science – a system giving us gives theories: a structure of ideas based on large amounts of evidence that explain and interpret numerous facts about a concept – therefore, well beyond a personal opinion or a detective’s hunch.
Science – a habit of mind of careful sifting of data and withholding of final judgment.
Embed from Getty ImagesScience – a methodology that does not make moral, ethical, and value judgments for society because those judgments are made by society.
Science – a way of knowing, but not the only way because science does not corner the way to truth about everything. Philosophical, theological, psychological/emotional, ethical, political, and historical views provide additional perspectives, yet each discipline is selective and limited.
Science – an activity bringing forth new issues causing humanity to face moral and ethical questions – whose answers science does not provide because it is neither equipped nor competent to answer ethical and moral questions, let alone the metaphysical, philosophical, or theological questions as “what is the meaning of life”, “why am I here”, and “is there a god?”
Embed from Getty ImagesScience – a process with recognized limitations. Science does not state how to use its knowledge. Science does not make value judgments. Science is limited to studying in nature. Science is limited to our ability to observe, including technology’s limitations. Science does not operate outside of its defined methodologies.
Science – a study that is limited to itself. Science cannot prove or disprove God’s existence because that question/topic lies outside science’s self-imposed boundaries of the observable events in the natural world around us.
Science – a study that should be embraced by all.
“Science – a study that should be embraced by all.”
Wonderful post. Thank you dear Frank, have a nice day, Love, nia
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Nia,
Glad statement says a lot … thanks you … and I hope all is well with you. 🙂
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Yes, I agree, Frank (of course). It’s too bad so many people do not.
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Merril,
For the many that don’t, many more do …. and of the many that don’t, most of them selectively choose when to embrace science. Meanwhile, the rest of us scratch our head.
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What got you going on the topic of science? It’s an important one.
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I (too) was a science teacher … but what really applied meaning to me was when I took a great workshop on Nature of Science – which was monumental help in teaching an entire unit on evolution. After teaching, I seriously dived into the interchange between science and religion.
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Great read!
“Science – a habit of mind of careful sifting of data and withholding of final judgment.” Sigh, if only people would.
The coolest thing about science is that is is so open ended and flexible and creative. A true art form
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Mouse,
Creativity within the boundaries and rules is unquestionably an art form. Glad you enjoyed this!
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“brings us new knowledge, yet knowledge that is only for a given point in time because it can change based on newer knowledge.”—Very true. I think that’s why people sometimes get frustrated with science, because studies come out and say one thing, then a later one comes out and says the opposite. But we have to work with what we have. To extrapolate and make things up may be tempting, but it’s not logical or rational, and in the long run it may potentially hurt us.
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Carrie,
Great that you expanded my point because that’s an important idea. On the other hand, one frustration can be due to a lack of knowledge about how science works. Thanks for chiming in! …. and your excellent point desires a dessert. 🙂
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A dessert? Well…okay…if you insist…
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You’re so nice you can have a beer too.
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Well, in that case, cheers! 🍻
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Interesting post, Frank. I like the idea of science boundaries. They do allow a certain amount of belief to co-exist with scientific conclusions.
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John,
I think of science as football: There participants, boundaries, rules, playbook, and checks and balances. Therefore, with religion/theology being outside the boundaries, it is up to individuals to merge the two disciplines. Oh well … .that’s another story. 🙂
Are you back home?
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No we are still in exile in Austin.
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😦
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Love this!
What can I say…it’s poetry in motion. ❤
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Resa,
A good addition … and glad you enjoyed the post. … the video helps lighten it up. 🙂
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OMG! Please do your thing and just make this a link.! EEK. Not very scientific of me!
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I’ll leave it …. I’m picky on the musicals because of the number of videos that could be involved. 🙂
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I do not have a very extensive education in any scientific field, but I have a great deal of appreciation for those who do! This summer a good friend was diagnosed with leukemia and although frightening, the prognosis isn’t as dire as it once was, because of scientific progress in the treatment of this disease. And medical science is just one scientific field! I felt buoyant and hopeful just reading this post, Frank! Quite a celebration of science and all that is represented by curiosity, inquiry, discovery and challenge.
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Debra,
You may not have extensive education in any scientific field, but you are smart enough to understand the points I’m making. Much can be said, so I’ve tried to condense points that I feel are important.
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Your post is going on my refrigerator (and in my golf bag) along with spurring me on to (1) re-read “The Book That Changed America: How Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation” by Randall Fuller, and (2) finish reading “Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital” by David Oshinsky.
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Tim,
Your refrigerator and golf bag are overflowing.
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Thanks to you!
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Comprehensive explanation yours is, Frank, of science, an endless journey from known to unknown, which is the field of all possibilities. Science, an ever ready and persevering arm of human intelligence, always advancing from haziness to greater clarity, invariably ascending higher from bars constantly raised by philosophy and metaphysics. Science, if not for which the world, with its animate and inanimate objects, would have stopped evolving ages ago…
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Raja,
Your elegant words have added much to this post. Many thanks!!!
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I’m liking these theme-based posts: doors swinging into science!
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John,
As the old saying goes, there are many ways to skin the animal.
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I am somewhat surprised at the wide variety of definitions you found for “science”, Frank. Most of them, it seems to me, are overly complex and argumentative. This might be, I submit, because of a general tendency to conflate ideology and methodology. Religion is the first and science is the latter. The scientific method prescribes the construction of a hypothesis, careful observation and measurement, and then independent testing and reproducing results to confirm the hypothesis. Why, I wonder, is this so hard to understand? But it is. Thus, the common confusion and misapplication of the word, “theory”. (I remain quite confident in the theory of heliocentrism.)
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Jim,
Instead of focusing on different definitions, I aimed to examine a broader look at science … some focusing on aspects of the process and others focusing on ways people get confused – let alone when they try to intermingle science and religion. But if you noticed, the post focused heavily on science, and then I used that differentiate the two disciplines because I know some people genuinely have a difficult time with doing that … (as the opposed to those who chose to but the two in conflict). I also know that I’m more well-versed about the interchange than most people – so I focus on the positive relationship between the two in order to help those who think that way but don’t necessarily now how to articulate it or they didn’t know others thought the same way.
PS: A new edition one of your favorites (Opinions in the Shorts) is in the schedule queue …. so it’s coming soon.
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Science – A tool we use to understand ourselves…
Nice…
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Tgops,
Welcome first-time commenter. Glad to know that one of my lines struck a chord with you … and that one is a good one!
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Pingback: On Aspects of Science.. – L.F. McCabe – Author
Science. Faith with evidence.
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Franz,
Welcome first-time commenter … and I like that statement!
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Variety of ways to look at science. Very dear to me.
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Science explains everything. Religion refuses to accept that science trumps the bible, or the Quran, or whatever other religious text is out there. Religion is pretty silly; especially when wars are fought over it. As is the case throughout history. “God created it,” is not an acceptable answer. Well, how did God create it? “He just did!” Lol, silly silly!
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GeekSci,
Welcome first-time commenter. Interestingly, the majority of Christianity accepts science … and I’m confident the majority of science respects the role religion in the world. It’s the polar opposites (each a minority view) that have nothing to do with the other but to distort viewpoints.
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@ GeekSci,
With respect, I believe that conflating science and religion as opposites is harmful to both. Religion is ideology, science is methodology.
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