What makes science a science.

Posted on August 25, 2011 by peachcobbler3124 | 4 Comments

Science is not taking things at face value, but researching and experimenting to draw your own conclusion. What makes a science a science is verification. The act of validating a claim is what makes a science science. It is looking at anything and always being skeptical. Just because someone appears one way or someone tells you something doesn’t make you accept its validity. If we never questioned the world around us we would not be where be are now intellectually or technologically. Myths don’t pose questions like science does. Myths are stories, usually passed down through oral tradition, that have no basis in fact, but are just assumed to be true. Imagine if we took things to be true as we hear them. We’d still be living in the stone age. Science and verifying and researching claims are critical to our intellectual advancement.

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4 responses to “What makes science a science.”

coleduclos | August 25, 2011 at 6:40 pm | Reply

I think it is interesting that you say scientists are always skeptical, when another post said that scientists are always accepting. One view seems more open to ideas worth testing, while the other is just looking for a ways to shoot it down. When first presented an idea, do you think that scientists never accept said idea until being validated, making them always skeptical? Or do you think they are more optimistic, initially accepting the presented theory until they can be prove otherwise?
danjo53 | August 25, 2011 at 7:55 pm | Reply

I think scientists are always skeptical. They have to be, as they have to overcome Confirmation Bias, the brain’s tendency to see what it already believes to be true. This is one of the hardest things about becoming a scientist, learning to doubt.

Yes, I think verification is the thing that ultimately makes science science. What astounds me all the time is that it took SO LONG for humans to come up with that very simple idea. Of course there were elements of this around, like testing out your spear, but it was applied at such a small level, all the way through the rise of the great civilizations, were the multitude of gods, the spirits, the demons, etc. continued to reign supreme.
joelboz | August 25, 2011 at 9:48 pm | Reply

I feel that describing scientists as skeptical, as this blog did, is a perfect way of describe it. People tended to believe in myths without being skeptical of their origin. If science was the same way and no one questioned theories or hypotheses, we might still think the earth was flat.
cem2727 | August 26, 2011 at 11:29 am | Reply

I agree with you completely. scientists are always skeptical until they have taken the necessary steps to experiment and verify. Science is science because someone has performed tests and drawn conclusions based on reoccuring results withing their experiments. What I don’t understand is why people just accepted these myths that depicted gods and other supernatural beings as truth just because that was what they were told. Personally, when I am told a story that seems far fetched I refuse to believe it until I have been presented with proof to make me think otherwise.