What Have You Read?

[SithDoughnut]

First, what is science?

I'm going quote Wikipedia for this one, because it puts my view perfectly (and with a far better vocabulary):

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

That's about it. It's a method of understanding the universe.

Secondly, what are the limits of science?

The immediate limits are technology and resources. In the long term, I'm not sure there are any. Anything that cannot be observed or measured would be beyond the reach of science, but then it would be beyond the reach of everything, and we can never be sure that such things even exist.

I'm not one of these people who thinks that spiritual concepts such as souls or God are beyond science's understanding. If they can be observed and experienced, the scientific method can potentially be used to study them. The only spiritual concepts that beyond science are those that no one knows anything about, and never will.

Thirdly, what branches of science are theoretical regardless of your belief in their veracity?

Anything with the word "theoretical" at the beginning, although the exact content of the branches change as our knowledge progresses.

 

[variant]

First, what is science?

Controlled methodological observation for the reduction subjectivity with the goal of accurately uncovering explainations and makeing predictions.

Secondly, what are the limits of science?

Phenomina that can be observed in a controlled manner.

That for which we can make a prediction about the future which will falcefy our explaination.

Thirdly, what branches of science are theoretical regardless of your belief in their veracity?

All branches deal with theories, some are purely theoretical (hpothetical) in that all study in them is done in a deductive or mathamatical manner like theoretical physics, for later testing (if possible).

 

[secondtimearound]

Hey Variant, Sith, I am going to make this into a seperate thread once I get my notes together on it. Thanks for you input and I look forward to continuing the discussion at a later date.