Philosophy and Science Essay

Philosophy, science, art and religion are all major achievements of the human mind. Like science, philosophy calls for careful reasoning and exact language. The nature of philosopher and science are somewhat similar in that they have both relied on logical thinking and a quest for deeper truths regarding life and human nature. There have been great philosophers who have become scientists such as Copernicus and there have been scientists like Albert Einstein who have later become philosophers. Thus there is a subtle relationship between science and philosophy. In ancient times all fields of study including religion, science and art were accepted as parts of philosophy. Science particularly, has been considered very important in every philosophic system. But with the rapid advance of knowledge the sciences and the humanities separated from philosophy (Grolier, 1979). They developed their own methods of investigation and their own vocabularies. Philosophers in recent times tend to focus on general ideas common to different fields. Thus we find that natural philosophy took its root in scientific investigation and later evolved into modern science. Philosophy can be understood in either a popular way or a technical way. In the popular sense, any set of deeply held beliefs about man, nature, society and God is called a philosophy. Everyone who has wondered about the meaning of life and found an answer that satisfied him as his own philosophy. In its more technical sense, philosophy means a highly disciplined and reasonable method of criticizing fundamental beliefs to make them more clear and reliable. This method was first developed by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century B. C. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, and other learned men began to speculate about the underlying causes of natural phenomena like birth and death, rainfall and drought, the perfectly regular motions of the planets, the reach of fire toward the sky, and the fall of heavy objects toward the earth. In the world of today, science is regarded as an activity based on the experimental gathering of facts, the mathematical modeling of its results, and the framing of hypotheses. Philosophy on the other hand deals with unanswerable ultimate questions about ethics and metaphysics, the meaning of life, or the nature of truth. Today’s philosophers and scientists travel along different paths, it is interesting to note that science and philosophy have had a common background and history. Till the emergence of special scientific branches in the 19th and 20th centuries, ‘natural philosophy’ covered all scientific activity. Isaac Newton called himself a â€Å"natural philosopher†, and telescopes and air pumps used to be classified as â€Å"philosophical instruments†. Natural philosophy or â€Å"philosophia naturalis† referred to the exploration and analysis of all things under the sky including stones to human mental functions and the winds and the stars. The natural philosophy evolved into modern scientific thought through the years 1200 to 1700. This period includes the introduction of Aristotle’s works into the nascent universities to the establishment of stable scientific institutions such as the Royal Society or the Acadà ©mie des Sciences. Science as is kno wn today is   were characterized by experimentation, mathematical modeling, the publication of research results, and the sponsoring of scientific collaboration. Science is usually associated with acquisition of knowledge and more specifically science is connected to theoretical knowledge compared to practical knowledge. The word â€Å"science† has its roots from the word â€Å"Scientia† originally meaning knowledge (Ross, 1996). Modern dictionaries define science as â€Å"the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena through methodological activity, discipline, or study.† The true nature of science is best understood by focusing on its methodology. Fundamentally, then, science can be characterized as a method of obtaining reliable – though not infallible – knowledge about the universe around us. This knowledge includes both descriptions of what happens and explanations of why it happens. The knowledge is reliable because it is continually tested and retested – much of science is heavily interdependent, which means that any test of any scientific idea entails testing other, related ideas at the same time. The knowledge is not infallible; because at no point do scientists assume that they have arrived at a final, definitive truth. Science is mostly about natural processes and natural events. It involves both description and explanation. Description tells what has happened whereas explanation tells why it happened. According to Science, future events may be predicted only based on knowledge of such events. The ancient Greeks formed the word ‘philosophy’ from ‘philos’ meaning ‘lover’ and ‘sophia’ meaning ‘wisdom’. A philosopher according to them was a person who devoted his lfie to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake without regard for its practical uses. The kind of knowledge that interested Thales and other philosophers of the 6th century B.C. was knowledge of nature and its laws. Philosophy on the other hand deals with the fundamental nature of existence, of man and of man’s relationship to existence. Whereas science tries to take a microscopic perspective in problem solving, philosophy tends to take a macroscopic perspective in problem solving. In general, philosophy questions often are a series of â€Å"why-questions,† whereas science is often said to ask â€Å"how-questions.† In the words of Ayn Rand: â€Å"In the realm of cognition, the special sciences are the trees, but philosophy is th e soil which makes the forest possible.† (Ayn Rand in â€Å"Philosophy: Who Needs It†) Generally speaking philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or even a calling to answer or to ask or to comment upon certain peculiar kinds of questions. Science and philosophy have always supported each other. While philosophy utilizes scientific discoveries to give it strength and a basis for generalizations, science utilizes philosophy to get a world view and perceive things from the framework of universal principles. It is a well known fact that early scientific ideas came from philosophers. The atomic structure of things was first expressed by Democritus and later expanded on by Lucretius and Diderot. What was hypothetically conceived by them was declared a scientific fact two centuries later. The Cartesian reflux as it is known in science was proposed by philosophers to explain conservation of motion in the universe. Spinoza hypothesized determinism based on a general philosophical perception. The idea of the existence of molecules as complex particles consisting of atoms was developed in the works of the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi and also Russia’s Mikhail Lomonosov. The hypothesis of the cellular structure of animal and vegetable organisms, the idea of the development and universal connection of phenomena and the principle of the material unity of the world were all obtained through philosophical thought. Lenin as a philosopher formulated the principle of the inexhaustibility of matter which scientists consider as a firm methodological base (Spirkin, 1983). Just as science progressed through philosophical thought, philosophy was also enriched by science. The philosophical world view and methodology was impacted greatly with every major scientific discovery.   Philosophical theories, statements and conclusions are deduced on the basis of scientific facts. Moreover, philosophical propositions, principles, concepts and laws are discovered through the generalization of these facts. Euclidian geometry and the mechanics of Galileo and Newton are scientific discoveries that impacted human reasoning in a significant manner. Copernicus’ heliocentric system changed the whole conception of the structure of the universe and Darwin’s theory of evolution, changed the general perception of man’s position in nature. Mendeleyev’s table of chemical elements enhanced understanding the structure of matter. Einstein’s theory of relativity exposed the relationship between matter, motion, space and time. The theory of higher nervous activity evolved by Sechenov and Pavlov deepened the philosophers’ understanding of the material foundations of mental activity, of consciousness. The creation and development by Marx, Engels and Lenin of the science of the laws of development of human society contributed further to philosophy in the realm of natural and social vortex of events (Spirkin, 1983). The history of natural and social science shows that scientists, on several occasions have leaned on world-views and methodological principles, categories and logical systems evolved by philosophers in the process of their researches. All scientists who think in terms of theory have expressed their gratitude in their writings and in their speeches. Thus, we find that the connection between philosophy and science is mutual. But this statement is found to be debatable among experts. There is a strong argument among scientists and philosophers that the two disciplines of science and philosophy do not necessarily need each other for growth. But there are others who feel that science can be informed by philosophy. Philosophy is highly valued due to its interconnection with life. But then, there are others who argue that philosophy is based on vague theorizing and it should not have any link to science. However, it is significant to note that there is no such warning for philosophers to keep away from science. The specific sciences cannot and should not break their connections with true philosophy (Spirkin, 1983). Most scientists, especial those who work with theories would agree that creative activity is closely linked with philosophy and that without serious knowledge of philosophical culture the results of that activity cannot become theoretically effective. Scientists with a powerful theoretical grasp, have always accepted the significance of philosophy to the growth of science. Philosophy does not replace the specialised sciences and does not command them, but it does arm them with general principles of theoretical thinking, with a method of cognition and world-view. In this sense scientific philosophy legitimately holds one of the key positions in the system of the sciences. Truly scientific thought is philosophical to the core; just as truly philosophical thought is profoundly scientific, rooted in the sum-total of scientific achievements. Philosophical training gives the scientist a breadth and penetration, a wider scope in posing and resolving problems. Sometimes these qualities are brilliantly expressed, as in the work of Marx, particularly in his Capital, or in Einstein’s wide-ranging natural scientific conceptions. The interconnection between science and philosophy that has existed through the years has only grown stronger with time. It is impossible to achieve complete understanding of theories related to global problems without a broad grasp of inter-disciplinary and philosophical views. There are some people who argue that science has no need of philosophy. It is their contention that science is in itself philosophy. They hold that scientific knowledge is sufficient to provide answers to all problems including philosophical problems. But the â€Å"cunning† of philosophy lies in the fact that any form of contempt for it, any rejection of philosophy is in itself a kind of philosophy. It is as impossible to get rid of philosophy as it is to rid oneself of all convictions. Many scientists who have maintained the positions of crude empiricism and scorned philosophy have eventually fallen into mysticism. Absence of philosophical assumptions leads to intellectual narrowness. Science needs philosophy due to its diversified branches. As Science has become so ramified, no can today master any particular subject such as medicine or biology or mathematics. Scientists are trying to know as much as possible about as little as possible. This kind of specific specialization is both good and bad. Without narrow specialization there can be no progress in science and at the same time, such specialization must be constantly filled out by a broad inter-disciplinary approach, by the integrative power of philosophical reason. Narrow specialization has no breadth of vision and can thus lead to empiricism, to the endless description of particulars. While science requires researchers to look externally, philosophers tend to look both internally and externally – at the world around man and man’s place in that world. This wholesome perception provided by philosophical consciousness is reflective in its very essence. Philosophy is not only an abstract science. It also deals with moral principles, ethics, and conscience. Today, advances in science have brought many kinds of conflict to society. For example, there is the question regarding nuclear bomb. Is it wrong for a nation to acquire nuclear bomb? Only ethical thinking combined with scientific thinking can provide the right answer. Such questions as this one cannot be answered by science alone. While there are many examples showing that philosophical thought was behind many scientific discoveries, Bernal conceived that science was the starting point for philosophy; it was the very basis of philosophy. Marxist social theory emerged within this process. For Bernal, there was no philosophy, no social theory, and no knowledge independent of science. Science was the foundation of it all (Sheehan, 1985). As Bernal saw the transition to the future, scientific and socialist philosophical thinking played a key role.   For a long time, philosophers as diverse as David Hume, Karl Marx, and Edmund Husser felt that philosophy was â€Å"scientific.† But, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) felt that there are some problems that science alone can deal with and others it couldn’t. Science and philosophy are both different paths taken by different people who desire to explore the truth. Scientists and philosophers can be considered as seekers of true knowledge. These two subjects differ today in the nature and methodology. Despite these differences, true scientific theories are based on philosophy and true philosophical statements have their foundation in science.