Science and Philosophy of Science

Science and philosophy of science have taken a special place in discussions of early philosophers, scientists and educationists. Drawing distinctions between science and philosophy of science was rather a difficult task assigned on them.

What is Science?

Science is a word derived in the recent past from the Latin word 'Scientia'. Scientia means knowledge , a knowing, expertness or experience.
Science is an intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation.

What is Philosophy of Science?

Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with foundations ,methods and implications of science.
Philosophy of science deals with what  science is ,how it works and the logic through which scientific knowledge is built.

Relations Between Science and Philosophy of Science

Science and Philosophy of Science are not the same .However, the two fields of study are interrelated.
How are these two related? In my opinion ,it is rather agreeable to say that science is an output resulting with the proper application of theories and tools of philosophy to solve problems in the physical and natural world involving science.

Philosophy of science spends a good bit of time trying to identify scientific and unscientific work, trying to figure out the logic with which scientific explanations and claims are grounded and working to understand the relation between theory and empirical data. Thus, acceptable laws and theories of science will be outputs from this process.

The goal of philosophy of science is not to answer scientific questions but to answer questions of science. Philosophical tools such as thinking ,reasoning and critical analysis  are used in solving problems of science.

Scientific Explanations 

Not all explanations provided in real life are scientific explanations. Explanations that we provide may be also be requests of justifications and console which are not considered as scientific explanations.

Mostly why questions request for reasons or explanations for particular actions. Moreover , why questions are not the only way for this because language is diverse and flexible, we are free to sway the words in anyway to bring out the required meaning.  So ,how–possibly-questions, how–actually question forms can also request for explanations or reasons.

For example: How did the accident happen? 
This question requests explanations about the how the accident happened.

Reasonings provided are of 2 types ;
  1. Deductive reasoning- valid reasoning and support the conclusion with certainty.
  2. Inductive reasoning- invalid reasoning and provide probable support to the conclusion.
So we can come across either of the 2 types of reasoning in life but must be mindful to present or choose deductive reasoning for scientific explanations.

Philosophers and scientists carefully handle the pragmatics of explanation as it has a greater effect on the information conveyed. To make it clear, we must know the knowledge and the intellectual ability of the person who requested for explanations. If someone requested for an explanation about a law which he has never learnt or heard of, then explaining it to its depth will be useless. Thus, their prior knowledge matters a lot in decoding the explanations presented. Moreover, in presenting an argument the opponent must be a person who can analyze the argument with logical sense and not driven by different logical fallacies. Hence, explanations can be provided to the most suitable person in the best way. This is much required in analyzing scientific explanations to formulate theories and laws of science.

Scientific method

Scientists make use of the scientific method which consists of ordered steps to follow when formulating theories which will later be modified as laws in the light of new knowledge.

The work done when scientists test hypothesis is also science.
Here scientific thinking and reasoning are also incorporated and empirical evidences are collected to formulate theories of science with strong scientific base so there will be no disagreements with other known theories and laws in science.

In conclusion, science and philosophy of science are not the same. They are two separate studies however it is evident they are interrelated because science make use of philosophical theories and tools to develop its theories and laws with a strong scientific base.


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