Philosophy and Science Essay

doctrine, experience, artistry and religion ar all(prenominal) last(predicate) major achievements of the tender-heartede beings mind. Like acquaintance, ism calls for c areful reason and charter language. The genius of philosopher and wisdom are roughlywhat correspondent in that they shake some(prenominal) relied on analytic thinking and a quest for deeper truths regarding life and hu macrocosm nature. There have been great philosophers who have catch scientists such as Copernicus and on that point have been scientists identical Albert wiz who have later on become philosophers.frankincense in that respect is a subtle descent among science and philosophic carcass. In ancient times all fields of study including religion, science and art were authoritative as parts of doctrine. intuition particularly, has been checked very central in every philosophic system. merely with the quick advance of acquaintance the sciences and the humanities separated from doctrine (Grolier, 1979). They developed their own methods of investigation and their own vocabularies. Philosophers in recent times tend to focus on general ideas commonalty to different fields. Thus we start that earthy philosophic system took its root in scientific investigation and later evolved into forward- odouring science. ism backside be soundless in either a popular way or a skilful way. In the popular sense, two set of deeply held beliefs nearly man, nature, society and God is called a philosophy. Everyone who has wondered nigh the inwardness of life and prove an settlement that fulfil him as his own philosophy. In its to a greater extent technical sense, philosophy means a highly discipline and reasonable method of criticizing important beliefs to make them more clear and tried and true. This method was first developed by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century B. C. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, and former(a) learned men began to specul ate ab forth the rudimentary causes of natural phenomena like birth and death, rainfall and drought, the absolutely regular exercises of the planets, the reach of fire toward the toss away, and the fall of moody objects toward the earth.In the association domain of today, science is regarded as an exertion found on the observational gathering of facts, the mathematical modeling of its results, and the framing of hypotheses. Philosophy on the anformer(a)(prenominal) hand deals with unanswerable ultimate questions about morals and metaphysics, the meaning of life, or the nature of truth.Todays philosophers and scientists travel along different paths, it is interesting to degrade that science and philosophy have had a common background and history. Till the emergence of special scientific branches in the 19th and 20th centuries, natural philosophy covered all scientific natural action. Isaac northward called himself a natural philosopher, and telescopes and air pumps use d to be classified ad as philosophical instruments. Natural philosophy or philosophia naturalis referred to the exploration and analysis of all things under the sky including stones to human mental functions and the winds and the stars. The natural philosophy evolved into modern scientific thought through the age 1200 to 1700. This breaker point includes the introduction of Aristotles deeds into the nascent universities to the instauration of stable scientific institutions such as the august Society or the Acadmie des accomplishments. Science as is known today is were characterized by experimentation, mathematical modeling, the emergence of research results, and the sponsoring of scientific collaboration.Science is usually associated with acquirement of knowledge and more ad hocally science is affiliated to theoretical knowledge compared to practical knowledge. The word science has its roots from the word Scientia originally meaning knowledge (Ross, 1996). Modern dictionari es define science as the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena through methodological exercise, discipline, or study. The true nature of science is best understood by focusing on its methodology.Fundamentally, then, science thunder mug be characterized as a method of obtaining reliable though not unfailing knowledge about the universe around us. This knowledge includes both descriptions of what happens and explanations of why it happens. The knowledge is reliable because it is continually runneled and retested oft of science is heavily interdependent, which means that any test of any scientific idea entails testing other, link up ideas at the same time. The knowledge is not infallible because at no point do scientists ingest that they have arrived at a final, definitive truth. Science is mostly about natural processes and natural events. It involves both description and explanation. Description tells what has happened whereas explanation tells why it happened. check to Science, future events may be predicted only lower-rankingd on knowledge of such events.The ancient Greeks organise the word philosophy from philos meaning lover and sophia meaning wisdom. A philosopher according to them was a psyche who devoted his lfie to the pursuit of knowledge for its own interest without regard for its practical uses. The kind of knowledge that fire Thales and other philosophers of the 6th century B.C. was knowledge of nature and its laws. Philosophy on the other hand deals with the fundamental nature of existence, of man and of mans relationship to existence. Whereas science tries to take a microscopic prospect in problem solving, philosophy tends to take a macroscopic perspective in problem solving. In general, philosophy questions often are a serial of why-questions, whereas science is often said to ask how-questions. In the words of Ayn Rand In the dry land of cognition, the spe cial sciences are the trees, but philosophy is the soil which makes the forest possible. (Ayn Rand in Philosophy Who Needs It) Generally speaking philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or even a calling to answer or to ask or to comment upon original peculiar kinds of questions.Science and philosophy have ceaselessly supported each other. While philosophy utilizes scientific discoveries to give it strength and a basis for generalizations, science utilizes philosophy to get a world tidy sum and perceive things from the framework of universal principles. It is a salubrious known fact that early scientific ideas came from philosophers. The atomic structure of things was first expressed by Democritus and later expanded on by Lucretius and Diderot. What was hypothetically conceived by them was declared a scientific fact 2 centuries later. The Cartesian reflux as it is known in science was proposed by philosophers to explain conservation of motion in the universe.Spinoza hypothesi zed determinism establish on a general philosophical information. The idea of the existence of molecules as complex particles consisting of atoms was developed in the works of the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi and also Russias Mikhail Lomonosov. The hypothesis of the cellular structure of animal and vegetable organisms, the idea of the learning and universal connection of phenomena and the principle of the material superstar of the world were all obtained through philosophical thought. Lenin as a philosopher formulated the principle of the inexhaustibility of matter which scientists consider as a firm methodological base (Spirkin, 1983).Just as science progressed through philosophical thought, philosophy was also enriched by science. The philosophical world view and methodology was impacted greatly with every major scientific discovery. Philosophical theories, statements and conclusions are deduced on the basis of scientific facts. Moreover, philosophical propositions, princ iples, concepts and laws are discovered through the generalization of these facts.Euclidian geometry and the mechanics of Galileo and Newton are scientific discoveries that impacted human reasoning in a signifi coffin nailt manner. Copernicus heliocentric system changed the whole conception of the structure of the universe and Darwins surmise of evolution, changed the general perception of mans position in nature. Mendeleyevs table of chemical substance elements enhanced understanding the structure of matter. Einsteins theory of relativity exposed the relationship among matter, motion, space and time. The theory of higher nervous activity evolved by Sechenov and Pavlov deepened the philosophers understanding of the material floors of mental activity, of consciousness. The knowledgeableness and development by Marx, Engels and Lenin of the science of the laws of development of human society contributed further to philosophy in the realm of natural and loving vortex of events (Sp irkin, 1983).The history of natural and social science shows that scientists, on several make have leaned on world-views and methodological principles, categories and logical systems evolved by philosophers in the process of their researches. All scientists who think in terms of theory have expressed their gratitude in their writings and in their speeches.Thus, we find that the connection surrounded by philosophy and science is mutual. But this statement is found to be debatable among experts. There is a toilsome argument among scientists and philosophers that the two disciplines of science and philosophy do not necessarily bespeak each other for growth. But there are others who feel that science digest be informed by philosophy. Philosophy is highly valued due to its interconnectedness with life. But then, there are others who argue that philosophy is based on vague theorizing and it should not have any link to science. However, it is significant to note that there is no such warning for philosophers to keep away from science. The specific sciences cannot and should not break their connections with true philosophy (Spirkin, 1983). almost scientists, especial those who work with theories would agree that creative activity is closely linked with philosophy and that without serious knowledge of philosophical culture the results of that activity cannot become theoretically effective. Scientists with a powerful theoretical grasp, have always accepted the significance of philosophy to the growth of science. Philosophy does not replace the specialised sciences and does not predominate them, but it does arm them with general principles of theoretical thinking, with a method of cognition and world-view. In this sense scientific philosophy legitimately holds one of the key positions in the system of the sciences.Truly scientific thought is philosophical to the core just as truly philosophical thought is profoundly scientific, rooted in the sum-total of scientific achievements. Philosophical training gives the scientist a breadth and penetration, a wider scope in posing and resolving problems. sometimes these qualities are brilliantly expressed, as in the work of Marx, particularly in his Capital, or in Einsteins wide-ranging natural scientific conceptions. The interconnection between science and philosophy that has existed through the years has only grown stronger with time. It is impossible to achieve masterful understanding of theories related to global problems without a broad(a) grasp of inter-disciplinary and philosophical views.There are some race who argue that science has no need of philosophy. It is their contention that science is in itself philosophy. They hold that scientific knowledge is sufficient to provide answers to all problems including philosophical problems. But the cunning of philosophy lies in the fact that any form of contempt for it, any rejection of philosophy is in itself a kind of philosophy. It is as impossi ble to get relieve of philosophy as it is to rid oneself of all convictions. Many scientists who have maintained the positions of utter(a) empiricism and scorned philosophy have finally fallen into mysticism. Absence of philosophical assumptions farts to intellectual narrowness.Science needs philosophy due to its diversified branches. As Science has become so ramified, no can today master any particular depicted object such as medicine or biological science or mathematics. Scientists are trying to know as much as possible about as little as possible. This kind of specific forte is both good and bad. Without narrow specialty there can be no progress in science and at the same time, such specialization must be constantly filled out by a broad inter-disciplinary approach, by the combinative power of philosophical reason. Narrow specialization has no breadth of vision and can thus lead to empiricism, to the endless description of particulars.While science requires researchers t o look outwardly, philosophers tend to look both internally and externally at the world around man and mans place in that world. This wholesome perception provided by philosophical consciousness is reflective in its very essence. Philosophy is not only an snitch science. It also deals with moral principles, ethics, and conscience. Today, advances in science have brought galore(postnominal) a(prenominal) kinds of conflict to society. For example, there is the question regarding thermonuclear bomb. Is it wrong for a nation to acquire nuclear bomb? Only ethical thinking unite with scientific thinking can provide the estimable answer. Such questions as this one cannot be answered by science alone.While there are many examples showing that philosophical thought was behind many scientific discoveries, Bernal conceived that science was the starting point for philosophy it was the very basis of philosophy. Marxist social theory emerged within this process. For Bernal, there was no phi losophy, no social theory, and no knowledge independent of science. Science was the foundation of it all (Sheehan, 1985). As Bernal saw the transition to the future, scientific and socialist philosophical thinking played a key role. For a long time, philosophers as divers(prenominal) as David Hume, Karl Marx, and Edmund Husser felt that philosophy was scientific. But, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) felt that there are some problems that science alone can deal with and others it couldnt.Science and philosophy are both different paths taken by different people who desire to explore the truth. Scientists and philosophers can be considered as seekers of true knowledge. These two subjects differ today in the nature and methodology. Despite these differences, true scientific theories are based on philosophy and true philosophical statements have their foundation in science.