Philosophy: A Science Of Thought

aseneca (45)in #steemstem • 6 years ago (edited)

Philosophy: The science of thought.

Good day readers. We have insofar discussed what science is and what the concept entails, the methods of logic and discussed on the debate that had perpetuated itself for long. In this article, we will be discussing something else, something deeper and as many would even put it, arcane.

Science as I defined it in my first article "Science: an intelligent desire", is a method of acquiring knowledge of the phenomenon, their causes and extent of their effects, by collecting data, forming a hypothesis(not conjectures) and testing, or analyzing. However, science draws its root from a subject of deeper meaning, philosophy, the science of thought. In this article, I will explain the concept of philosophy and the philosophy of science and its components.

Ready? Ride with me.

Philosophia

What is philosophy? Merriam-webster dictionary defines philosophy as "A search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means".
Wikipedia defines philosophy as "the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language".
Me, I define philosophy simply as the proper use of reason. This is also in line with the definition of wisdom, and in some situations, they can substitute for one another.
Philosophy is a broadly related term, encompassing any form of knowledge, even scientific knowledge and has evolved into many forms as humanity evolved as well. As the subject evolved, so did its modes of practices. From the ancient Greeks to ancient Rome, to modern civilization, philosophy remains tentative. New things are being discovered every day, our system of thought evolves as our needs, location, and personality different. However broad this subject, I must narrow my view to focus on the philosophy of science, its components and how science differs from philosophy.

Take a deep breath...

The Science-Philosophy symbiosis

The philosophy of science deals with the concept of numbers, measurements and values and how they affect us as individuals. For some science is an offspring of philosophy, for others philosophy is just a higher mode of science, however, it cannot be disputed that philosophy begets science. How then do they affect each other? Science is a tool applied in understanding philosophy, in other words, a means of amassing knowledge. Note that this is not "knowledge" itself in a corporeal sense since that would be equating science to philosophy. In other words, science is a method of learning philosophy.

But how does it do that?

Tools. Science as a concept has its tools for dissecting and analyzing knowledge. They involve the physical sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and so on, and the social sciences (we shall come to these later). Mathematics is argued to be a chief science among all sciences since,without it, data would be impossible to compute or interpret, and we would be left with the original form of philosophy, the speculative part. Nevertheless, the importance of all the tools of science cannot be over reiterated.

The soft and hard sciences

The tools of science too are classified into categories, not according to importance but modes of practices. All sciences are equally important. I like to refer to this classification as "soft" and "hard" sciences.

What is the difference between these two classifications?

Soft sciences are the social sciences such as history, sociology, psychology, and so on. These forms of sciences are referred to as soft sciences because they cannot hold a solid conclusion in such a way that discrepancies are expected at every end. By discrepancies, I mean that inference drawn from a particular case may differ from another inference drawn from a very similar case, perhaps even the same case. This sort of "discrepancies" although even found in the so-called hard sciences are more frequent in the soft sciences. Another reason is that the soft sciences lack the ability to predict consistent patterns.

Okay. what about the hard sciences?

The hard sciences are the natural or physical sciences such as physics, mathematics, chemistry and so on. Even the biological sciences are considered hard science since they involve the study of the nature and behavior of a living organism and how they use energy. Even the computer sciences are considered natural sciences. In this kind of science, there are few discrepancies, and they possess a property known as "testability" i.e they can be tested and verified. One of their most distinguishing features, unlike the soft sciences, is their ability to predict events with consistency.

So, where does philosophy come in all of this?

All these tools included in the soft and hard sciences are essential for understanding the nature of our world and how they affect us individually and as a society. Logic, which is another tool for understanding philosophy is a form of reasoning and is employed both in hard and soft science. In my last article, "scientific method: an unnoticed debate", I explained the concept of logic and its relation to science.
Now that we understand what philosophy is and it's relationship with science, how do they differ? How do we differentiate "philosophy" from "the philosophy of science".

Stay with me. We are getting somewhere...

The Science-Philosophy Distinction.

So far we have come to see what science is and what philosophy is, but how do they differ? What makes one more distinct from the other? The answer is simple: the methods of learning. While philosophy involves a more speculative approach, science demands observation, and hypothesis, and in a word, an observational approach. This is the most basic reason. In this sense, science cannot deal with things it cannot quantify or observe* i.e *immaterial things like God and spirit and the rest. However, philosophy can. It can speculate on such matters, draw conclusions and defend such conclusions by logic. See how logic is necessary for both science and philosophy. Another question, one which remains the big question is, can a scientist be a philosopher? Or is a scientist a philosopher? Or is the scientist a very distinct, irreconcilable entity from the philosopher? This questions will be answered in the next article.

Closing my discuss.

There we have it. Philosophy can be described as the science of thought, not the science of observation. I hope the article is clear and articulate enough and if you have any questions or contribution, do not hesitate to reach me. This is aseneca reminding you to stay Scientific, always. Thank you.