We analyze results from experiments and attribute these to physical laws. But nowadays people treat science as absolute truth. When the truth is science is constantly reshaped, and is not truth at all. Science is a tool. We must look at the Philosophy of Science in order to know what this tool of knowledge actually is.
I am currently getting a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering. My youtube channel talks about a lot of physics and science fiction. My degree is a Bachelor of "Science". So there is a lot of science being thrown around there. But I have never once been taught about the philosophy of science in all of my education. All I knew about science was that I was studying it and in 9th grade they taught me that there is a scientific method you have to follow and it helps you develop scientific theories, and the scientific theories are explanations of how the natural world works that are supported by tested evidence.
But what is science and why do people use the word science as a synonym for absolute truth?
What is a scientific theory?
To help you understand science I am going to define what a scientific theory is. I could not find a specific standard that is the definition of scientific theory so here are two official definitions of scientific theory from different organizations:
Britannica: "systematic ideational structure of broad scope that encompasses a family of empirical (experiential) laws regarding regularities existing in objects and events, both observed and posited."
Wikipedia: "A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can be or that has been repeatedly tested and has corroborating evidence in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results."
These scientific theories are built from facts, which are objective verifiable observations. These facts are very precise and situational and sometimes are corrected when we find new discoveries. This is what I mean when I say that science is not absolute truth. Absolute truth is what is truly always happening around us, it is the universe as it is without misconception. It is an ideal and it is the true nature of all things, but we use science to continually try to come to this ideal of truth.
Now these facts and scientific theories make up the body of science. So now we should define science. Science is the body of knowledge, built from testing theories, that we use as a tool to understand reality.
Philosophy came first
Now that science is defined we can talk about the philosophy of science. You can get a degree in the subject of the Philosophy of Science so I am just scratching the surface and making it easier to understand.
So philosophy came first. Philosophy was not an abrupt invention from one human being. Like all tools that have been developed by humans, philosophy was slowly formed into a way of thought. The word philosophy means the "love of wisdom". Philosophy is the rational study of fundamental questions. In simple terms it is the pursuit of wisdom. Now that sounds a lot like what we think science is.
And in some truth science is a philosophy. It is an evolution of philosophy, a branch of philosophy that focuses on verifiable tests about the natural world, natural philosophy. And that's a very important distinction. Science is about the natural world, about things we can test and observe. So when people think science is the end all be all and can solve everything we get stuck in a tunnel vision.
Science explains behavior and structure. In my view it cannot tell us what a thing's essence is. Science can't yet explain the complexity of this experience of consciousness. If we live life through a purely scientific lens we see everything's behavior and structure and we risk living a life devoid of purpose and meaning.
The philosophy of science
Now we can talk about the philosophy of science. The philosophy of science is the rational study of the elements of scientific inquiry. The philosophy of science looks at the study of what knowledge is, how to build knowledge from observable evidence, how to find truer generalizations, how to find truer causes or propositions, how to rule out ideas or prove ideas to be false, and the list continues.
Based on the history of the development of both fields of thought, it is important to remember philosophy is not a branch of science but, science grew out of philosophy. Science is a collection of a bunch of facts or observable truths that shape our understanding of reality.
To come to a conclusion, science is not truth, but a tool to find close approximations to observable truth.
Sources
Scientific Theory - Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/scientific-theory
Scientific Theory - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
Fact Definition - Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fact
Science Definition - Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/science
Philosophy - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy
History of Philosophy - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_philosophy
Philosophy Definition - Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philosophy
The Philosophy of Science - Understanding Science, UC Berkeley, https://undsci.berkeley.edu/the-philosophy-of-science/
- Lucas Edward