The problem of science and its meaning is addressed by J. Revatz. The article explains different perspectives of science, its role, and its functions in modern society. The author singles out different notions and approaches to science and its management practices for both researchers and the community. The three images of science selected for analysis are science as techniques, the pursuit of truth, and science as dirty work. Revatz claims that science is about the explanation of facts and the environment, and since researchers are human beings, the scientific project is a human one. For people, it is crucial to interpret the readings of instruments to themselves and other human beings. Revatz explains that it is thus important to distinguish between what happens inside a process and the interpretation of these happenings or experiences. The human experience does not depend on active intellect, whereas explanation certainly does. In other words, knowledge is the result of a scientist-independent reality, whereas theory is a product of the human mind. The insights into the nature of matter and living organisms that scientific questions have given researchers also tell them what is not possible.
The article “When All You Have Left Is Your Pride” by Carey describes everyday interaction between people and communication patterns. Despite its simplicity and plainness, this article uses science as “dirty work” to explain and defend social interaction mechanisms. All this is to say that though there may be no limit to the number of exciting new facts and theories that will come from social science, this plethora of wonders should not lead the readers to the false assumption that anything is possible. What technology does do, is bring people ever closer to the inherent limits of materials. For instance, all social human beings are composed of identical and similar habits and traditions. It’s because of this modularity, and the mathematics of complexity, that the world is predictable, and it’s because science has the keys to this knowledge that society values science and science instruction. Using science as “dirty work”, the author tries to explain social preferences and causes of social behavior. “To the extent that it sustains good habits and reflects personal pride, they say, this kind of play-acting can be an extremely effective social strategy, especially in uncertain times” (Carey 2009). Even a correctly controlled experiment that used sticks of equal diameter and uneven length would not advance a scientist’s understanding of stability, because such understanding requires a theoretical structure well beyond second graders and second-grade teachers.
The article “Wheat genome project to underpin food security” sees science as the pursuit of truth The author gives a detailed analysis of cells composed of identical and similar protein molecules which have an impact on crops and genetic modifications. “The wheat genome is five times larger than the human genome and is composed of three essentially separate yet closely related genomes. It therefore represents a major challenge in genome sequencing and analysis” (Wheat genome project 2009). Likewise, the base pairs of DNA can form an unlimited collection of living organisms, all of which exist within a limited range of heat because they are all made of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. In science, there may never be a way to know–even in principle the structure and properties of all probable substances or organisms, just as there is no way to know all the facts and scientific studies that can be written. This is just to say that the ways of combining even a few basic entities can be inconceivably vast, albeit still finite.
“The Most Powerful Volcanic Eruption of the 20th Century” sees science as a technique that helps researchers to investigate and explain the problem. The article vividly portrays that science makes endless combinations of the elements, materials, and pressure, limited in density, tensile strength, and so on by the maximum mass of nuclei and the intrinsic strength of the chemical bond between atoms. To some extent, science limits the hope that there will always be another technological fix for humanity’s problems. It just maybe that people can get themselves into trouble earlier than science can bail them out. To this end, scientific values might be useful tools of the trade, but he refused to concede that they were true, or about true, descriptions of an extrasensory world. The logical positivists, influenced by the developments of relativity and quantum mechanics which had overthrown some of the basic notions of space, time, and causality assumed by Newton, wanted to develop a foundation for science that would never be overthrown by future discoveries. And as some extrasensory entities, such as atoms and genes, became ever more visible, they were less inclined to deny their reality.
In sum, science is a unique field that helps researchers to investigate, analyze and evaluate natural phenomena and facts. Indeed, the reality of most events, from the internal temperature of a moon to the age of the molecule, is linked to observations only through a long chain of the deductive way of thinking. Nothing significant can be concluded from such a mixture experiment and the implication that it can be only reinforced unscientific thoughts. It’s this group that has excitedly endorsed science because it allows them to speak only about the process (whatever is described) rather than consequences and real initial causes (of which they are ignorant).
Bibliography
Carey, B. 2009, When All You Have Left Is Your Pride.The New York Times. Web.
The Most Powerful Volcanic Eruption of the 20th Century. 2009. Geology.Com. Web.
Wheat genome project to underpin food security. 2009. BBSRC. Web.