What is science?

Epistemology, rationality, ontology, causality, coheres, correspondence, objectivity, essentialism, positivism, rationalism, subjectivity, hermeneutics, …

What is science?

1. “Science”

Nobel price

What is science?

2. More sciences

Humanities

Social sciences

Medicine

Technical sciences

Natural sciences

What is science?

3. Even more sciences

Natural sciences - chemistry, biology, physic

Social science - Law, economy, sociology

Humanities - linguistic, literature, theology ...

What is science?

Conclusion:

Science is subjects at the university

What is science?

Why do modern societies need science?“keep up with the Joneses”Aiding the accumulation of capitalLegitimizes powerEducating professional experts

It creates new knowledge for the benefit of societyMakes the world a better placeMakes mankind better

What is science?

Conclusion:

Science is a productive force (as is fields, men and machines)

What is science?

Science is what is going on in scientific institutions

Institution: A system of rules, expectations and hypotheses, that govern peoples choice of activities concerning other people, things and actions

What is science?

Science as institution- People: Bureaucrats, secretaries, department managers, deans, … and a few researchers

- Activities: Control, bureaucracy, book keeping, and some research and education

- Rules expectations and hpoteses: Hierarchies, work rules, systems of merits (Ph.D., Doktor, students, assistant, associate and full professors)

What is science?

Who are the users?

The people, those in power, bureaucrats, employees of the institutions, the state, the capital, business, …

Production: Reports and candidates

Conclusion: Institutions producing knowledge

What is science?

Science as:

Subject at the university

A productive force

An institution

(Are we ay wiser??)

What is science?

We did not get any wiser – I think

We could ask – how is knowledge or how do we know?

Some of the problems of knowing

What is science?

”Compare knowing and saying:

how many feet high Mont Blanc is-

how the word “game” is used-

how a clarinet sounds.

If you are surprised that one can know something and not be able to say it, you are perhaps thinking of a case like the first. Certainly not of one like the third” (Wittgenstein, 1983, p. 36).

What is science?

Are there thing we can know that we cannot say?

• Epistemology

• Ontology

What is science?

Knowledge (In ancient Greece)

Episteme

Phronesis

Techne

What is science?

Truth

Validity

Reliability

What is science?

Basic science

Science

Development

What is science?

Primary and secondary research

Primary research (theoretic and empirical)

Secondary research (overview over theories, results etc. from the

primary research)

What is science?

What is science?

What is science?

The atomic bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 bomber, at 8:15 in the morning of August 6, 1945.

What is science?

Problematic:

- defined on the basis of its use ( - not on the basis of the research activities)

- based on statistic (a bookkeeping principle)

- an excuse for the useless and un-interesting

- do not account for the humanities and social sciences and the technical sciences

What is science?

Joseph Black (1728 - 99)

What is science?

James Watt (1736 1815)

What is science?

• Thomas Newcomen's steam engine 1705

What is science?

Conclusion:

The questions are much more important than the answers

How is science?

Are your projects scientific?