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Food for Thought |
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Previous Editorials Knowledge and Science
Nanotechnology
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Is it Philosphy or Science? : Knowing the boundaries.
by: Mario Solari, Techlearner Editor Date: January 10, 2004
The question of which part of knowledge pertains to Science and which pertains to Philosophy is one that comes up constantly and needs to be well defined so that the true capabilities and limitations of Science can be well understood. Philosophy itself is a science, since it seeks to gain knowledge of reality by observation and logical reasoning. However, whereas Philosophy deals with the fundamentals of life in its entirety, Science on the other hand deals with the measurable physical world and uses the Scientific Method to gain knowledge of this physical world. Thus, Philosophy has the role of overseeing Science and providing the appropriate norms for Science to develop its own realm of knowledge. Science, on the other hand deals with the specifics of the physical world and seeks to explain the diverse phenomena of this physical world using theories and hypotheses backed up through experimental data. Thus, Philosophy will answer questions such as how are all existent entities conformed from its fundamental principles (answer best given by Aristotle in his "Metaphysics" ), whereas Science will go into the details of how different materials are composed of atoms and molecules, as far as non-living things are concerned. Both descriptions are accurate, but the distinction to make is that Science's reign ends in as far as it can only describe different substances as made up of atoms and molecules, while Philosophy goes to a different level to encompass all living and non-living things. Hence, Philosophy needs not interfere in the reign of Science, since it does not possess the tools to describe accurately composite matter; and Science on the other hand can't pretend to be able to describe all of the existing things in terms of their fundamental principles. In conclusion, give to Science what pertains to Science and give to Philosophy what pertains to Philosophy. And keep in mind that good and sound Philosophy should be a compass for good and sound Science, so that Science can fulfill its task accurately and also rely on Philosophy for making ethical resolutions, Ethics being yet another aspect of Philosophy which guides Science to its proper use and development.
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