Scientific methods/science
Posted on 2004-01-15 by ivo :: /science :: link
Introduction
Usually, when people ask me if I have a religion, or if I believe in something, I usually answer “no”. My parents are both atheists, I wasn't baptized. When I have to put a little more nuance in that, it becomes “I believe in Nature.” But I don't mean Nature to be some higher order being like some people see mother nature. So I change it to “I believe in science.”
“But there are some things that science can't explain.” (usually they refer to the metaphysical) — bzzt, wrong. There are things that science hasn't yet had a chance to explain. (And there are things that science explains, but nobody wanted to know about.)
There are people who don't know how to handle science, there are those who don't know how to handle scientific results, and there are those who just Do Not Get It. There are a lot of generally accepted principles that apply to any scientific research. These principles have influenced the way that scientists do research since the middle ages, when research in western Europe was generally intended to support the Catholic Church in their doctrine.
