Formal and Empirical Sciences: Methods and Definitions
Definition of Science
Aristotle defined science as the knowledge of things by their causes. Against the common knowledge that merely knows the facts, scientific knowledge discovers the causes of things. After criticism of empiricist philosophy, the concept of cause changed. A broad definition of science may include in it all kinds of scientific activity: the body of knowledge relating to the same object and systematically interrelated.
Method
Method is the systematic set of operations oriented to a result, that is, how to proceed or the way forward for the purposes of access to knowledge of the research object.
Formal Sciences
The formal sciences are those sciences whose statements do not refer to facts and therefore make no claim or dispute about what is happening in the world. They are characterized by formal language and symbols with arbitrarily established rules. The symbols are meaningless; therefore, the only thing that counts is that the use of symbols, formulas, and operations conform with agreed rules. Axioms and theorems are the fundamental starting point. Knowledge is delimited by the whole system, resulting in a closed system. The method of formal sciences is deduction.
Deduction is the reasoning which necessarily draws conclusions from the use of certain laws of logic without resorting to experience. These conclusions are regarded as true and obvious.
Empirical Science
Fundamental contributions are:
- The induction method (Francis Bacon)
- The hypothetical-deductive method, which we owe to Galileo’s systematization
Characteristics of Empirical Science
- Its statements relate to events and therefore affirm or deny something about what happens in the world.
- The primary goal of empirical science is to establish laws and theories that explain and predict facts.
General Method
- Observe and record all the facts in an objective and unbiased manner, as they are in themselves. The observations should be repeated in a wide variety of conditions.
- Compare and classify the facts. This will make generalizations referring to the causal relationships between facts. Such generalizations are considered as laws, that is, statements that express constant relations among events.
- Extract the consequences of the laws thus obtained so as to be making predictions about future events.
Types of Induction
- Full Induction: The procedure in this case is entirely legitimate and no problem since full induction is from the observation and analysis of each and every one of the individual cases possible.
- Incomplete Induction: This type of induction is the most common in the field of science. It poses an interesting problem of logical character but allows the advancement of knowledge. In this case, we start from the observation of certain individual cases, not all possible, and then proceed to establish a general conclusion.
Hypothetical-Deductive Method
Observation, formulation of hypotheses, deduction, and verification.
Explanation
A way to account for natural phenomena by recourse to establishing consistent relationships between observable phenomena, often causal: phenomenon A causes phenomenon B. This procedure is well suited to natural phenomena. However, it is insufficient in many cases in the field of human sciences.
Understanding
How to account for institutions and human actions from beliefs and intentions that give them meaning.
Hermeneutics
A procedure aimed at achieving understanding in the field of human sciences. Its mission is to facilitate the interpretation of actions, institutions, and documents that leads to the comprehension of these.