SOCPSY 2K03 Chapter 1: SOCPSY_2K03_-_Science_Social_Science_Social_Research_
Document Summary
What is science: science means knowledge. Science: the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of physical and natural phenomena through observation and experiment, systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions. A key element of science is empiricism (actual observation made around the world: science is a focused, organized, and systematic version of how we know the world by experience. Science can also involve deduction: theory creation and hypotheses testing. For most of human history, questions about the nature of the world were answered by religious authorities: but mathematics, astronomy emerge in ancient greece and egypt. Individuals start to observe and use science for explanations: first to suggest non-supernatural explanations for earthquakes, lightning, talked about droughts based on solar eclipses. Thales of miletus in the (624 b. c. ) often considered father of science". Eratosthenes (276 b. c. ) measured size of the earth using two sticks.
