HIS 60 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Homeopathy, Pseudoscience
Document Summary
In 2009 ce, the british science council issued a concise definition of the word science. "science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence. " Their definition defines science both in terms of its object (the natural and social world) and its techniques of investigation (systematic methodology). They go on to clarify the methodology: science, they say, proceeds by: objective observation: measurement and data (preferably, although not necessarily, using mathematics as a medium of description, evidence, experiment and/or observation as benchmarks for testing hypotheses. Induction: reasoning to establish general rules or conclusions drawn from facts or examples: repetition, critical analysis, verification and testing: critical exposure to scrutiny, peer review and assessment. This definition is philosophical because it is intended, in fact, to correct popular misapprehensions and perversions of the word, which are summed up as.
