Marc's+'What+is+this+Science?'+Final+Draft+(Unfinished)

__"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. Sometimes that means arriving at new levels of understanding which negate theories we previously held. Dr. Terry Halwes, in his articles "The Terrible Truth About Truth" and "Changing Concepts of Truth in Science" talks about science as it relates to absolute truth. He is quick to point out that truth is what is commonly believe by many, but there is no absolute truth as new findings can disprove previous "truths." His most descriptive example of this was what we believed to be the approximate time of the extinction of dinosaurs. With every new fossil we find, we help support our current belief that dinosaurs went extinct at a specific time. There may be, however, one fossil yet to have been found which dates back to //after// the time we believe dinosaurs went extinct. We cannot guarantee such a thing will not happen, and if it does, it will completely rework some of our ideas. And there isn't necessarily any problem with this either. It may be a bump on our road to "absolute truth," perhaps, but Halwes dislikes this idea anyway, partial to instead believing that there is no final truth to be arrived at through science, but rather a vast, potentially limitless library of knowledge.

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 (whose story was revealed to me through John Kessler's articles regarding him) 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.

Science isn't necessarily all discovery for the betterment of humankind and society, either. Science also creates weaponry to fuel the fires of war. From metallurgy and the smithing of new, stronger weapons to the application of gunpowder through chemistry to the physics applied to indirect artillery combat, science has played a vital role in giving armies advantages over their enemies throughout the centuries of man's existence. Scientific discovery is often times the handle which cranks the gears of war. This is no more evident than in the First and Second World Wars. National governments across the world implored and funded their scientists to create new devastating weapons to end the stalemates in the trenches and important towns and cities. Poisonous gases, machine guns and tanks saw their first employment in World War I. Improved and more deadly, tanks and machine guns returned in World War II along with semi automatic rifles for the common infantryman to devastating effect. Planes were now being used to bomb and set fire to civilian cities, whereas in World War I they could effectively only be used for reconnaissance.

Perhaps the darkest of all creations of science, and one which I have paid particular attention to this semester through responses to articles and my review of __The Making of the Atomic Bomb__ by Richard Rhodes, was the creation and use of nuclear weapons. While the idea behind them may have been strictly logical: to do with one bomb what had previously taken hundreds of thousands, atomic weapons are truly horrifying //exactly because// one weapon can deliver so much damage. These psychological effects, the intense heat and power of the explosion and the ensuing radiation (if it is actually used) truly is awe inspiring, and not in the good way. While it may have ended World War II by putting fear in the hearts of the Japanese and thus saving many American lives, the creation and use of the atomic bomb then has put us in a bad situation today - massive stockpiles of these bombs exist around the world, enough to destroy the Earth many times over - and all it takes is an executive decision and a few button pushes to launch them.

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), for better or for worse. Blaise Pascal well exemplifies this fact in his __Pensees__ with the following quote:

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