SOCIAL

SCIENCE VS.
NATURAL
SCIENCE

CLOSER LOOK
 LET’S HAVE
NATURAL SCIENCE

FIRST
NATURAL SCIENCE
DEFINITION

– “DISCIPLINES THAT DEAL ONLY WITH NATURAL EVENTS (I.E. INDEPENDENT AND
DEPENDENT VARIABLES IN NATURE) USING SCIENTIFIC METHODS” WHILE THE
EMPLOYMENT OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS TYPICAL
BUT NOT EXCLUSIVE OF NATURAL SCIENCES, IT IS THE FOCUS ON NATURAL
EVENTS THAT DISTINGUISHES NATURAL FROM SOCIAL SCIENCE.
NATURAL SCIENCE
ORIGIN

– MARKED BY CHANGING WORLD VIEWS INTRODUCED BY RENAISSANCE

THINKERS WHO QUESTIONED EARLIER EXPLANATIONS ABOUT THE WORLD AND
TURNED TO MORE SYSTEMATIC METHODS OF INVESTIGATION. EARLY LEADERS
OF THIS ‘SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION’ INCLUDED COPERNICUS AND GALILEO WHO
WERE CONCERNED WITH PROBLEMS FROM DISCIPLINES INCLUDING
ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS, AMONG OTHERS. NATURAL SCIENCES AROSE FROM
CURIOSITY ABOUT THE WORLD, AS WELL AS THE ENDEAVOR TO TRANSFORM
NATURE IN FAVOR OF HUMAN NECESSITIES OF LIFE, BOTH OF WHICH HAD NOT
BEEN POSSIBLE TO PURSUE FREELY IN THE ERA OF SLAVERY OF THE ANCIENT
SOCIETY.
NATURAL SCIENCE
SUBJECT OF STUDY

– THE AIM OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES IS TO DISCOVER THE LAWS THAT RULE THE
WORLD.
– THE FOCUS LIES HEREBY ON THE NATURAL AND NOT ON THE SOCIAL WORLD,
ALTHOUGH THE DIFFERENTIATION IS NOT ALWAYS SIMPLE.
– THERE ARE HISTORICALLY THREE CORE AREAS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES:
CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND PHYSICS.
– THIS LEADS TO THE FACT THAT EARLY NATURAL SCIENTISTS WERE GENERALISTS FROM
TODAY’S PERSPECTIVE, AND LATER SPECIALIZED IN NEWLY EMERGING DISCIPLINES
SUCH AS ASTRONOMY IN THE BEGINNING, DIFFERENT ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES
LATER, AND RATHER RECENTLY CREATED FIELDS SUCH AS ROBOTICS OR BIONICS.
NATURAL SCIENCE
METHODS

– CONSISTING SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION, MEASUREMENT, AND EXPERIMENT.

– COMPARED TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, THE NATURAL SCIENCES RELY MORE ON
MATHEMATICALLY BASED METHODS.
– MORE UNIFORM NATURE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND THE COUNTABILITY THAT
ENABLES
NATURAL SCIENCE
PHILOSOPHICAL STANCES

– INDUCTIVE EPISTEMOLOGY AND NOT QUESTIONED BY MOST SCIENTISTS

BEFORE KARL POPPER.
– A FINDING IS REGARDED AS GENERAL TRUTH WHEN A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF
EXPERIMENTS HAVE LED TO THE SAME OUTCOME.
– POPPER CRITICIZE IT, AND HE PUT FORWARD THAT A THEORY CANNOT BE
CONFIRMED BY INDUCTION, BUT ONLY FALSIFIED BY A SIMPLE OBSERVATION
(EXPOUNDED IT BY HIS “ALL SWANS ARE WHITE” THEORY AND EMPHASIZES,
THAT IT MUST BE TRIED TO FALSIFY THROUGH THE SEARCH OF A BLACK SWAN).