Modern Science: Characteristics, Concepts, and Explanations
Specific Characteristics of Modern Science
Galileo Galilei inaugurated a new way of making and understanding science. Galileo addressed the same problems that had concerned other scientists before him, but he did this in a radically different and revolutionary way, with two key characteristics:
- Experimentation: Galileo was aware that some of his hypotheses were not observable in everyday life, so he could only confirm them by creating an “ideal situation,” an experiment, in which disturbing elements such as friction were eliminated. Thus, the experiment allows isolating the phenomenon and focusing only on those elements considered critical.
- Mathematization: Mathematization was a cornerstone of the new science, in contrast to previous Physics, which was dominated by occult qualities and “natural tendencies” of the elements (remember the teleological Physics of Aristotle). Quantification, by providing more precise observations, allowed scientists to avoid the subjectivity and ambiguity of our everyday language.
Concepts in Science
Concepts are specific terms used in each science. There are three types:
- Qualifiers: They allow organizing reality into sets or groups.
- Comparative: They allow gradually sorting the elements of a group.
- Metrics: They allow numerically measuring properties of objects.
Hypotheses, Laws, and Theories
- Hypotheses: A hypothesis is a statement that expresses a temporary solution to a particular problem which hasn’t been proven yet.
- Laws: Laws are basic statements of scientific knowledge, characterized by:
- Using concepts that have been previously defined precisely.
- Explaining all phenomena of the same kind.
- Theories: Science seeks to explain areas of reality as widely as possible. Scientific laws are interconnected with other laws, forming a compact, coherent, and consistent system which we call scientific theories.
The Scientific Explanations
Deductive Model
This is a type of explanation commonly encountered in the natural sciences (Physics) and formal sciences, though not exclusively in those disciplines. It has the formal structure of a deductive argument in which the phenomenon that needs to be explained is a logically necessary consequence of the explanatory premises.
Probabilistic Model
Probabilistic explanations are usually encountered when the explanatory premises contain a statistical assumption about some class of element, and the phenomenon that has to be explained is an individual member of that class.
Functional or Teleological Model
To explain this, we have to resort to the intentions or the purpose for which someone or something carries out an action and the means to achieve it. However, this model is not exclusive to social or human sciences; it can also be used in some natural sciences such as Biology or Physiology. This explanation considers the activity performed by the lungs as essential for the maintenance of certain biological activities.
Genetic Model
Genetic explanations try to set out the sequence of major events through which some earlier system has been transformed into a later one. This is the kind of explanation we give to questions.