science

(noun)

A particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability.

Related Terms

Examples of science in the following topics:

  • Sociology and the Social Sciences

    • The social science disciplines also include psychology, political science, and economics, among other fields.
    • The use of scientific methods differentiates the social sciences from the humanities.
    • In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between science and humanities.
    • The social sciences occupy a middle position between the "hard" natural sciences and the interpretive bent of the humanities.
    • Isaac Newton was a key figure in the process which split the natural sciences from the humanities.

  • Sociology and Other Social Sciences

    • The social sciences comprise the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
    • Social sciences diverge from the humanities in that many in the social sciences emphasize the scientific method or other rigorous standards of evidence in the study of humanity.
    • Within decades of Hobbes' work a revolution took place in what constituted science, particularly with the work of Isaac Newton in physics.
    • In the early 20th century, a wave of change came to science.
    • Statistics and probability theory were sufficiently developed to be considered "scientific", resulting in the widespread use of statistics in the social sciences (they are also widely used in most other sciences as well, including biology).

  • The Development of Social Science

    • This unity of science as descriptive remained, for example, in the time of Thomas Hobbes who argued that deductive reasoning from axioms created a scientific framework; his book, Leviathan, was a scientific description of a political commonwealth.
    • Within decades of Hobbes' work a revolution took place in what constituted science, particularly with the work of Isaac Newton in physics.
    • Such relationships, called Laws after the usage of the time (see philosophy of science) became the model that other disciplines would emulate.
    • In the early 20th century, a wave of change came to science that saw statistical study sufficiently mathematical to be science.
    • With the rise of the idea of quantitative measurement in the physical sciences (see, for example Lord Rutherford's famous maxim that any knowledge that one cannot measure numerically "is a poor sort of knowledge"), the stage was set for the conception of the humanities as being precursors to social science.

  • Sociology and Science

    • Early sociological studies considered the field of sociology to be similar to the natural sciences, like physics or biology.
    • As a result, many researchers argued that the methodology used in the natural sciences was perfectly suited for use in the social sciences.
    • This also resulted in sociology being recognized as an empirical science.
    • The goal of positivism, like the natural sciences, is prediction.
    • The inability of sociology and other social sciences to perfectly predict the behavior of humans or to fully comprehend a different culture has led to the social sciences being labeled "soft sciences. " While some might consider this label derogatory, in a sense it can be seen as an admission of the remarkable complexity of humans as social animals.

  • Social Epidemiology and Health

    • Epidemiology is the study (or the science of the study) of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations.
    • Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.
    • The book pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy.
    • Social epidemiology overlaps with fields in the social sciences, such as medical anthropology, medical sociology, and medical geography.
    • Durkheim formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.

  • Early Thinkers and Comte

    • Comte hoped to unify all the sciences under sociology.
    • He believed sociology held the potential to improve society and direct human activity, including the other sciences.
    • His ambition to unify the sciences was not unique.
    • Neither his vision of a unified science nor his three-stage model have stood the test of time.
    • Many researchers argued that sociology should adopt the scientific methodology used in the natural sciences.

  • The Development of Sociology in the U.S.

    • In 1883, Ward published his two-volume,1,200 page Dynamic Sociology, Or Applied Social Science as Based Upon Statistical Sociology and the Less Complex Sciences, with which he hoped to establish the central importance of experimentation and the scientific method to the field of sociology.
    • But for Ward, science was not objective and removed, but human-centered and results-oriented.
    • "The real object of science is to benefit man.
    • A science which fails to do this, however agreeable its study, is lifeless.
    • Sociology, which of all sciences should benefit man most, is in danger of falling into the class of polite amusements, or dead sciences.

  • Education and Unequal Treatment in the Classroom

    • To this day, math and science are often thought to be , "male" fields, while subjects in the humanities are considered to be the more natural province of women.
    • Of course, particular subjects are not inherently "male" or "female. " However, gender norms are often informally inculcated at an early age, when elementary school teachers may encourage boys to pursue math and science and not do the same for girls.
    • A group of girls and boys working on a science project together at Cheltenham Elementary School, Cheltenham, PA, USA

  • Tradition vs. Science

    • As statistics and probability theory developed, they were applied to empirical sciences, such as biology, and to the social sciences.
    • Early sociological studies considered the field to be analogous to the natural sciences, like physics or biology.
    • Many researchers argued that the methodology used in the natural sciences was perfectly suited for use in the social sciences.
    • This approach to doing science is often termed positivism or empiricism.
    • The positivist approach to social science seeks to explain and predict social phenomena, often employing a quantitative approach.

  • After word

    • The basic methods of studying patterns of social relations that have been developed in the field of social network analysis provide ways of rigorously approaching many classic problems in the social sciences.
    • The application of existing methods to a wider range of social science problems, and the development of new methods to address additional issues in the social sciences are "cutting edges" in most social science disciplines.
    • Hopefully, the core ideas of social network analysis will enrich our understanding of fields outside the social sciences.