Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT. In 2000 The Ohio Academy of Science published its definition of "Science." Response to this definition led the Academy to produce a position paper entitled What is Science? The Academy officially adopted the position paper version of What is Science?, http://www.ohiosci.org/Whatisscience.pdf, at the April 2004 Ohio Academy of Science Annual Meeting. Response to this fact sheet demonstrated a need to further expand this document. Thus, this expanded version builds on the April 2004 position paper, What is Science? This paper clarifies what is science, the scientific method, a scientific hypothesis, a scientific theory, the importance of science, and what is not science.
OHIO J SCI 106 (4):130-135, 2006
WHAT IS SCIENCE?
The following is a restatement, with minor revision, of The Ohio Academy of Science (2000) definition of science:
"...science is a systematic method of continuing investigation, based on observation, scientific hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, and theory building, which leads to explanations of natural phenomena, processes, or objects, that are open to further testing, revision, and falsification, and while not 'believed in' through faith are accepted or rejected on the basis of scientific evidence."
The US Supreme Court (1993), in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., defined science as:
"Science is not an encyclopedic body of knowledge about the universe. Instead, it represents a process for proposing and refining theoretical explanations about the world that are subject to further testing and refinement (emphasis in original). But, in order to qualify as 'scientific knowledge,' an inference or assertion must be derived by the scientific method. Proposed testimony must be supported by appropriate validation-i.e., 'good grounds,' based on what is known. In short, the requirement that an expert's testimony pertain to 'scientific knowledge' establishes a standard of evidentiary reliability."
The American Heritage® Dictionary (AHD 2000) defines science as: "the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena; such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena; such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study; methodological activity, discipline, or study; an activity that appears to require study and method; knowledge, especially that gained through experience." It defines natural science as: "a science, such as biology, chemistry, or physics, that deals with the objects, phenomena, or laws of nature and the physical worlds."...