CBSE Book Class 11 Philosophy Methods of Natural and Social Sciences

Methods of Natural and Social Sciences

What is science?

Science is a methodical approach to study the natural and social world. Science asks basic questions such as how does the world work? How did the world come into existence? What was the world in the past, what is it like now and what will it be in future? These questions are answered with the help of observation and experiments. The data received is analyzed and interpreted with the help of logic. Scientific knowledge is systematic, unified and organized. Science attempts to bring particular facts under general laws forming parts of a consistent whole. It collects as many facts as possible and then seeks to unify them by finding out their mutual relations and inter connections. Science employs special means and methods to render true and exact knowledge.

The task of a scientist is to discover facts but a haphazard collection of facts cannot be said to constitute a science. A geographer, for example, may be interested in describing the exact configuration of a particular coastline or a geologist in more precise nature of rock strata in a particular locality, but in more advance science basic descriptive knowledge of this or that particular fact is of little importance. The scientist is eager to search out more general truths, of which particular facts are instances and for which they constitute evidences. Isolated particular facts may be known by direct observation but the scientist seeks more than a mere record of phenomena. He seeks to formulate general laws which state the patterns of all such occurrences in a systematic way. A scientist is engaged in a search of the natural laws according to which all particular events occur. Particular facts challenge the scientist to unify and explain them by discovering their lawful connections, and plurality of general laws challenge the scientist to unify and explain them by discovering a still more general principle that subsumes the several laws as special cases. This can be made clear by the following examples:

The Italian Physicist - Galileo Galilei (1564- 1642) formulated the laws of falling bodies which gave a general description of the behavior of bodies near the surface of the earth.

The German Astronomer - J.Kepler (1571-1630) formulated the laws of planetary motion describing the elliptical orbits travelled by the planets around the sun. Their discoveries were great achievements but were still separate and isolated.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) unified and explained celestial mechanics (Kepler) and terrestrial mechanics (Galileo) by the theory of gravitation and gave three laws of motion. He showed that both are deducible within the framework of a single more fundamental theory of gravitation. Thus, the scientists do not merely want to know the facts but also want to explain them by devising theories. The theories incorporate the natural laws that govern events, and the principles that underlie them.

1. Practical value of science

Science may be said to have great value both as practical and theoretical persuits. Modern science has changed almost every aspect of our lives although it has been in existence for only a few Methods of Natural and Social Sciences hundred years. Improvements in farming, manufacturing, communication, transportation, health, hygiene and in our standards of living, are the direct results of practical application of the technology. Scientific progress in the understanding of the genetic make up of human beings promise new cures for terrible diseases. However, some of the practical results of science are not so cheerful. We have harnessed nuclear power but the destructive power of nuclear weapon has become a menace to civilization. Computers enhance our power yet threaten our privacy. The industrial pollution which accompanies industrial revolution threatens the very habitability of the globe. The practical value of science lies in the life made easier by technological advances based on the scientific knowledge

2. Theoretical value of science

The laws and principles discovered in scientific investigations have a value apart from any practical utility they may possess. This intrinsic value is the satisfaction of curiosity, the fulfillment of the desire to know. Aristotle wrote long ago that "to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures not only to the philosopher but also to the rest of the mankind, however small their capacity for it" (Aristotle, Poetics 1448b). Scientific knowledge does not merely give its possessor power to satisfy his various practical needs, but also fulfills the desire to know. Science is not merely an instrument to control nature, it is also an instrument to know and understand the mysteries of nature as well.

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