What Is Science?

To understand science, one must understand facts. Facts are different than opinions.

The City University of New York writes that a fact is a statement that can be proven true or false, but an opinion is an expression of a person’s feelings that cannot be proven. Facts are determined through observing and experimenting. Some statements appear to be facts, but are actually opinion. Proper science is based on facts.

For example, let us consider the question “does gravity exist?” If we drop our pencil, it will fall towards the earth. It is a fact that the earth’s gravity pulls objects toward it. Gravity can be shown to exist over and over again both in observation and testing. It is a fact that gravity exists.

But what about the question “is gravity fun?”. The answer to this will vary. The answer will therefore not be fact but only be opinion because the term ‘fun’ is subjective and means different things to different people at different times. Sometimes gravity is fun and useful, but sometimes it causes problems. Whether or not gravity is “fun” can not be proven.

Science is a process of discovery and the collection of that discovery based on facts. The University of Georgia writes that ‘science is the effort to better understand the history of the natural world and how the natural world works, with observable physical facts as the basis of that understanding.’ The University of California at Berkeley continues by saying ‘science is continually refining and expanding our knowledge of the universe, and as it does, it leads to new questions for future investigation. Science will never be ‘finished.'”

Science will continue to progress and continue to operate solely based on fact.

Credits:
earth.com

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City University of New York
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University of Georgia
uga.edu

University of California
berkeley.edu