Science comes from the Latin word "scientia" meaning knowledge. There are various kinds of knowledge. For example; Knowledge we gain via our everyday experience of reality. Knowledge from historical and literary sources. Knowledge about the physical world. Knowledge about art. Knowledge about logic. Knowledge about economical affairs etc. We try to explain all these kinds of knowledge. We intellectually and rationally analyze knowledge and then yield systematized truths about various aspects of reality and then we name it the various sciences. Knowledge about truths related to calculus, geometrical structures, algebra etc. are collectively labeled as the mathematical sciences. Knowledge about our social interactions with others are analyzed and reasoned about and we name it the "social sciences" e.g. the economical, political, ethical, psychological, historical sciences. Knowledge gained from the physical environment via experimentation that is intellectually analyzed to yield certain reliable observations about the physical world are called the empirical physical sciences e.g. physics, biochemistry, physiology, genetics, chemistry etc. Logic, philosophy and metaphysics are labeled as general sciences or rational sciences and their main aim is to answer deeper and more extensive questions and in order to do so, rational inquiry and reasoning need to be employed to understand the more ultimate reasons and causes of things. We all have our philosophical and metaphysical views and biases and most of the time it goes unnoticed. In order to be aware of them and understand them we need to engage with these more general sciences. The end of science (not just the empirical sciences, but all science) as an endeavour is to facilitate discovering truth. It often happens in a casual conversation that a person claims science has proven this or science has done that or science has improved our lives. In such cases the term "science" is usually used to refer solely to the empirical physical sciences such as physics or biochemistry or chemistry etc. While it is true that the empirical physical sciences have contributed enormously to the progress of humanity, it is simply mistaken to argue it is the only science that has contributed to our understanding of reality or the only science worth studying or noticing. In the end we are all in the pursuit of knowledge and thus all scientists in a trivially true manner. Of course we are not all empirical scientists or philosophers or economists etc, we all have our specialties. However, if we are really in the pursuit of complete knowledge then we should be informed about the findings of the special sciences such as the empirical physical sciences, the social sciences and the mathematical sciences and be free to gain insights from the more general, rational sciences such as logic, philosophy and metaphysics.
A set of behaviors and outlooks which a term or synoptic concept like "scientism" might efficiently handle. Although often attributed to positivism as a source of origin, I doubt that it or its practice is purely descended from such, as some of those on the street swishing it about as a mighty sword probably never heard of either Comte or the offshoots in philosophy of science.
It is true that we can't say that only science has contributed to our communal stores of knowledge, however we can say that it has done so better than any other method of acquiring knowledge. We've even managed to use it to solve mysteries(such as the difference between living matter and nonliving matter) that we were told would be forever beyond the ability of science to solve.
What? Science is how to. Knowledge is outright knowledge, huge diffrence. Science is a series of steps to complete something over and over without failure. "I got it down to a science."
TEchne Post #1: Science comes from the Latin word "scientia" meaning knowledge. There are various kinds of knowledge. For example; Knowledge we gain via our everyday experience of reality. Knowledge from historical and literary sources. Knowledge about the physical world. Knowledge about art. Knowledge about logic. Knowledge about economical affairs etc. I'd add . . . intuitive knowledge . . .
