M.+Lypen+'What+is+this+Science?'

__"What is //this// science?" - The Philosopher's Question__ - M. Lypen

Science is the library of knowledge and progress mankind has made over thousands of years. While some may argue there is a more specific definition, //this// science refers to no one science. It asks "what is this thing called science?" And it may certainly be true that there //is// //no// better definition for what science is other than a collection of knowledge and discoveries. From the taming of fire and the discovery of the wheel to nanotechnology, we have discovered many things about ourselves and the world about us, and there may be no finite limit to what we //can// discover.

Science is the progress from the state of ignorance and unknowing to one of enlightenment and understanding. Descartes once said "Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore, I am)" which means the only thing I can be sure of is my own existence. Science, in this case, is proving Descartes wrong. Through logical deduction, experimentation, empirical evidence and other methods from other fields of science, we prove what we believe to be right. We strive, think, theorize and test until we come to what we believe to be an acceptable understanding of some small aspect of the world around us.

As humans, we are the only organisms alive on this planet Earth that can think, understand, and react based on decision rather than just instinct. Why would we let these abilities go to waste? With the ability to question things, we are naturally curious. Is it this curiosity which has driven us over the centuries to question why and attempt to understand. For a long time these phenomena around us were attributed to all kinds of different gods; Pantheons and Parthenons of divine beings and lesser gods too, to describe nearly everything that happened - weather, war, emotion, motives, and more. As time passed we made more attempts to understand the unknown and had better instruments to do so. It's almost like reading a long list of knowledge in the dark, but we can only light up so much of the page at a time. With each discovery the light gets brighter and we can learn even more.

Over the years science has been carried out under the wings of many institutions. Ironically, while the Church and Scientific community have been at extensive odds with each other in the past couple of centuries, the Church played a fairly large part in the development of science in the past. During the Dark Ages, monks in cloistered monasteries were the only ones who retained knowledge of Hellenistic science, philosophy, law, etc. in their books. At the beginning of the Renaissance, these books were referenced in attempts to make things right, as if they had been locked away in a vault while humanity outside decayed away. We were in such bad shape, half the books were gibberish to us. Still, we salvaged and re-learned what we could and progressed from there. In the early Renaissance period, before the Enlightenment, many scientists would be ignored or thought wrong if their work didn't have the approval of the Church. While many of the Church's views were indeed proven wrong by scientists they did not support, it is obvious they held much sway over the way things progressed; thinkers like Bruno and Galileo were silenced and condemned for presenting ideas contrary to what the Church believed and thus slowed the progress of these ideas being held as commonly true.

Applied science is the route in which research and discovery is directed into everyday life. Mathematics, Physics, Archaeology, Sociology, Biology - it all fits into daily life in some way or another. Math and physics help us understand the seen and unseen forces of motion in the world around us, biology helps us understand the living organisms on this Earth and our own inner workings, combined with chemistry. Archaeology and paleontology help us understand what came before. It all fits in, whether through simple common knowledge that helps us all live in an enlightened state, aids the flow of a smooth and functioning society, country, city, town or village, or finds its way into our lives through the technology we rely on every day from things as advanced as computers to things as simple and necessary as heating.

There is so much we have discovered and so much yet to be uncovered. Some say space is the final frontier. Whether it is final or not, it is certainly vast enough that we may never explore and understand it all in the time of our existence. There are, of course, many things on this very Earth we call home which we still do not understand. Given time, numbers and the tools and knowledge we have already accumulated, we should be able to tackle anything - intellectually or perhaps even physically if need be. Although we are mortal and mutable humans, there is a potentially unlimited library of knowledge and understanding we have yet to uncover. Given enough time, once again, we can attempt to understand as much as humanly possible (pun intended). Blaise Pascal well exemplifies this fact in his __Pensees__ with the following quote:

"The body is nourished gradually. Ample food and little substance."