Research Report #1

What Is Science?

For centuries, the intellectual community has discussed and debated a definition of science and its method, most commonly called “the scientific method,” resulting in a large body of knowledge on the subject.

The purpose of this report is to present, after 18 years of researching the literature, some of the most practical definitions of science that should be considered in establishing standard definitions of science and the scientific method, urgently needed for teaching in schools and to the general public.

What Is Science?

To teach science, it is practical to describe it. Here are some of the better descriptions I found.

From A Cultural History of Education (1947) by R. Freeman Butts, Teachers College Columbia University:

As a result of these great advances, science gained tremendous prestige and authority in the intellectual life of the world. The term “science” came to have at least three meanings.

(1) It referred to the various bodies of organized knowledge, each with its own systematic and consistent statements of tested beliefs.
(2) . . . a method for the discovery and refinement of experimental knowledge, relying upon careful observation, the formulation of hypotheses, the elaboration of consequences, and the testing and verifying of the hypotheses under controlled and measurable conditions.
(3) . . . a whole philosophy, or world view, according to which events follow orderly procedures that can be discovered by the senses, measured accurately, and expressed in quantitative terms.

From Living Issues in Philosophy: Fourth Edition (1964) by Harold H. Titus:

Three possible meanings of the term Science

The word science is used, first, to denote the many sciences. These include physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, biology, and psychology. Mathematics and logic are sometimes referred to as formal or abstract sciences, and disciplines like botany and mineralogy are often called descriptive or empirical sciences.

There are, then, a great many sciences, and their fields overlap.

Second, the term science may be used for a body of systematic knowledge including the hypotheses, theories, and laws that have been built up by the work of numerous scientists through the years. This knowledge is mainly theoretical, in contrast with the practical skills and the arts. Conant appears to have this use of the term in mind when he defines science as “an interconnected series of concepts and conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation and observation and are fruitful of further experimentation and observation.”

Third, for a considerable number of people the term science is used to designate a method of obtaining knowledge that is objective and verifiable. In this sense the term is practically synonymous with scientific method.

From The Scientific Approach (1967) by Carlo Lastrucci:

An examination of scores of standard books about science fails to elicit a clear and comprehensive definition; but . . . does rather clearly suggest a consensus among authoritative writers with regard to the essential attributes or processes of science. According to such a consensus, science may be defined . . . as: an objective, logical, and systematic method of analysis of phenomena, devised to permit the accumulation of reliable knowledge.

From Problems of Analysis (1954) by Max Black:

. . . to search for a definition of scientific method – or, for what is nearly the same thing, science itself.

My definition of science and the scientific method is:

The basic method, guide, and system by which we originate, refine, extend, and apply knowledge in all fields.

The definition can be extended to include the following:

• The method or guide, researched extensively, consists of eleven major steps or stages of mental activity, usually aided by physical activities and used in a flexible manner.
• Creative, non-logical, logical, and technical methods are used at the major activity stages to actually accomplish results. To increase reliability, these are used with applicable procedures and theories and with desirable personal attributes and thinking skills.