Difference Between Common Knowledge And Scientific Knowledge example essay topic

Conceptual Intelligence Definition: The term intelligence may be understood in many Ways it is often synonymous with understanding; it is Also considered as a way of using understanding and the knowledge that is understood, in order to solve the problems met within our environment. Intelligence is thus the ability to know, understand and adapt... And it is said to be a tool, capable of fabricating tools... In its practical form, it succeeded in transforming natural elements in to tools for living. In its abstract or conceptual form it succeed in forming two kinds of tools: concepts (the tools of thinking), and words (the tools of communication). Hartman defines intelligence as. the function that adapts means to ends...

In fact intelligent behavior appears to be a set of operations that are subordinated to a given end, aiming at the solution of the problem. But this definition is not convenient; it is not exclusively applicable to that which it tries to define (intelligence), for instinct is also adaptive. But instinctive adaptation is blind, rigid, stereotype and strictly specialized. A bee, fro instance, is a wonderful architect in its hive but if put in a bottle the neck of which is in darkness and the bottom is exposed to light, it will try obstinately and indefinitely to get out thought the glass. That is why Voltaire said: .

A bee is wonderful in its hive, but outside of it, it is nothing but a fly... Charles spearman defined intelligence as the. superpower of the mind... Binet and Simon claimed that to. judge well, comprehend well and reason well are the essential activities of intelligence... Intelligence, however, is not any adaptation. Intelligence is a quick and adequate adaptation to modified circumstances. Kinds Of Intelligence: 1.

Intuitive: which amounts to a quick and immediate understanding of relationships between things or ideas. 2. Conceptual: based mainly on use of concepts, it has the ability of forming signs and symbols. - A symbol is something that stands for or suggests something else, example: . The red traffic light is assign for the driver to stop...

This relationship is artificial. It is human intelligence, which endowed meaning to red light and transformed it into symbols of stopping. That.'s why the American anthropologist Leslie White claimed that he prefers to define man as a symbol marker, which, he though, is more precise than Aristotle.'s definition of man as a rational animal. - The most abstract and complicated set of symbol employed by man is language.

It is defined as a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of the conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings. What is the difference between human (conceptual) and animal (perceptual) intelligence? 1. Animal language is universal among members of the same species, which is due to the fact that their language is of a biological nature.

It is innate or born with the animal. Hence the animal mind works according to the mechanisms of instinct. Human language is not universal people living in different societies speak different languages. That.'s why; . Who rf. argues that the particular language we speak affects the kinds of concepts and perceptions we can have. Therefore, people who speak different languages perceive the world in different ways.

For example: English has one word for snow, which as Eskimo has four. 2. Animal language is limited to the expression of present needs. Animals have no clear conception of time. They live the present moment.

Human language, on the other hand, can express the past, present, and future. Man can detach present needs from his mind to think of the past experiences or future expectations. 3. Consider consecutive boxes A, B, C, D, etc. We put in box A candy and we close it. Then we introduce a chimpanzee into the room; the same is repeated with a child of three years old.

By trial and error both of them discover the sweet... Here we can find that there intelligence is quite in a close attraction., but when we change the candy to another box B they also will look for it in box A and after that they would both find it. After the same steps are followed with boxes C, D, E. here lays a major difference, while the chimpanzee is confused, the child goes quickly to the right box... The child acquires here language and his intelligence then advances rapidly over that of the chimpanzee. Therefore, we can say that one signor symbol means the same thing always to an animal. The same symbol word may denote a great variety of objects with respect to man.

This distinguishing property is abstraction. It is possible for man to use a word, like tree or pen, irrespectively of all the differences that distinguish different trees or pens. So the child has abstracted the concept of the following box, this concept i.e. : . the following box. is none of actually perceived boxes, yet it is applicable to anyone of them. What is Concept? A concept can be only defined in terms as ideas. An idea being an act or object of thought, a concept is a general and abstract idea constituted by the essential characteristics common to all members of a given set.

Concept formation thus involves two processes: abstraction and generalization. 1. Abstraction: according to Descartes, it consists of a process of extracting common properties from a variety of different things. It is the mental operation, through which we consider separately, that which is not separated, or even not separable in reality.

Thus the concept of a triangle neglects that material of which the triangle is made (ink or chalk). Its special form (equilateral etc. ), its dimensions or colors, and retains only its essence that is common to all triangles. 2. Generalization: Concepts have different degrees of abstraction that can be determined by extension and comprehension of concepts.

- The extension consists of all those objects to which the term applies. Earth, Mars are concept extension to the planet. - The comprehension consists of the properties, which the concept implies: turns around the Sun, a property in which the concept planet implies. So the term animal is more abstract than the term vertebrate because it implies a lesser number of characteristics, therefore it is more general.

Thus we see that abstraction and generalization are closely related, the only difference, broadly speaking, is that the first is more related to the definition of a certain concept, while the second is more related to the scope of its applicability. It is this sense that human intelligence is said to be conceptual, it is the ability to make these abstractions and generalizations and to deal with them. Measure of intelligence: Psychologists have always been interested in the individual difference in mental ability or intelligence. Attempts have been made to devise tests that would measure this mental ability. Among the very tests devised was the Binet-Simon intelligence test.

Binet-Simon Test: The Binet and Simon developed the concept of mental age (M. A) and that of chronological age (C. A). A child of seven years old who could do all the seven-year tests but not the eight year ones was said to have a mental age of seven, i.e. : M. A = 7. The chronological age is the actual age of the child. A child of seven years old has a C. A = 7.

A child with a C. A = 7 and a M. A = 7 would be considered as a normal or average child. On the other hand, a child of C. A = 7 but M. A = 10 i.e. : he was able to do the tests devised for ten-year old children, is considered as above average, whereas a child of M. A = 7 but C. A = 10 would be considered as below average in intelligence. The concept of M. A therefore indicated the level of intelligence achieved but did not necessarily give the brightness or the dullness of the individual. The term IQ or intelligence quotient thus was added later, the IQ was defined as the ratio (M. A / C. A) 100.

The role of the number 100 is only to do away with the decimal. Thus we can deduce and conclude that: The normal child.'s IQ = (7/7) 100 = 100 The above average child.'s IQ = (10/7) 100 = 142.8 The below average child.'s IQ = (7/10) 100 = 70 Is there a Universal measure of intelligence? It must be mentioned that intelligence tests cannot be considered as the universal measures of intelligence, because they have limitations, and also have their serious shortcomings. So we cannot compare a child from a country and another from another country and even if the child comes from the same country the standardization maybe out of the date or inadequate in the first place. It may show either the first child is more intelligent or less intelligent.

The validity of an intelligence test depends on how it was standardized. No intelligence test can be devised to measure pure intelligence, all of them, to a large degree, depend on the cultural and educational background of the individual, and hence can only be specific but not general. i.e. : a test used in the U.S. A cannot be used with valid results in France or in the Middle east or vice versa. So changes between cultures cause differences in result and also urban and rural cause a change in the result. Finally we may conclude that intelligence is the main tool of adaptation, yet its functioning surpasses the limits and requirements of this process to a higher level, where it satisfies man.'s curiosity for knowledge through grasping relationships and forming generalizations. It is a general competence that may rule the functioning of the mind as a whole, yet it is specialized in minor tasks and has special abilities. It can be measured, and thus we can distinguish the IQ level of a person, yet we have to be careful about the limitations of tests.

Discursive Thought Definition: Thought may be defined as any operation which involves intelligence, that is, the faculty of understanding. It is a particular operation of intelligence it is first of all judgment, the essential act of thought is judgment. i.e. : an act of affirmation (the sky is blue) or negation (snow is not hot). And as. Kant. said: . Intuition and concepts constitute the elements of all our knowledge...

Kinds or Types of thought: 1. Intuitive thoughts (or intuition), it yields certain judgments directly, so it is defined as direct and immediate knowledge. It reveals the individual qualities of real things. It is live thought which has become one with its object. So according to. Kant.

: . All thought must, directly or indirectly. relate ultimately to intuitions, and therefore, . to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be given to us... To John Locke, intuition supplies us with the most certain form of knowledge. 2.

Discursive thought (or reasoning) is directly after the intervention of reasoning. Reasoning, the operation of discursive thought is organized to operate according to definite principles and rules, which, in fact, constitute the subject matter of all logical studies. For example: I may notice that there is light in the neighbor.'s window and I will directly make the following judgments: the windows are opened, or my neighbor.'s room is lit. This judgment was possible due to a sensory intuition which is the main source of our knowledge of the world around us, it supplies the scientist with facts and relationships as well as ideas that cannot be, or are not proved, and consequently, leads to sure and exact knowledge. But there is another possible judgment, that is: . my neighbor is at home... Now this judgment cannot be reached as directly as the first ones.

I must have reasoned approximately in the flowing way: . since my neighbor couldn. t have left the lights on and gone out, because he usually put them off, then he must be at home... Thus the judgment. my neighbor is at home was reached indirectly through a reasoning or a discourse. Characteristics of Intuition: a. Intuitive knowledge is direct and immediate vision of our interior states it is also called Psychological intuition. I need no proof to know whether I am sad, happy, or afraid, I rather feel it directly. b. Intuition reveals it's objects in its special and concrete reality. c.

Intuition is not always communicable. If I talk about the redness of a rose to a blind man there is no chance of his. seeing. what i mean. d. Intuition is directly connected with its content. Let us take a statement of the form. All x.'s are y. 's. it can be intuitively true if (x. s) are replaced by dogs and if (y. s) are replaced by animals, but not the other way around.

Characteristics of Discursive thought: - Discursive thought is indirect and mediate for it involves the interposing of an argument. - Discursive thought deals with abstractions. For example: Socrates is concrete individual known by sensory intuition, but man in general is an abstract and universal concept. - Discursive knowledge, by virtues of its very definition (discourse = speech), is communicable.

An intelligent blind man can perfectly understand a course in optics, provided he knows the definitions and principles of this science, even if he cannot see a single ray of light. - Discursive thought, by virtue of it.'s being abstract, can be easily formalized. For example the following syllogism: All x.'s are y.'s A is an x Therefore A is a y Is true even if we don. t know nothing-about x. 's, y.'s and A. 's. But the following syllogism: All the men are vertebrates I am a vertebrate, Therefore I am a man Is incorrect even if it is intuitively verifiable. What is wrong in it is its form. For here is another example with the same form: All men are vertebrates Pussycat is a vertebrate Therefore pussycat is a man Where the conclusion is not intuitively verifiable.

Conclusion: Science, or human knowledge in general, is based upon theses two types of thought: intuitive and discursive. No one of them is sufficient in itself to build knowledge- they complement each other. Although intuition may play an important role in the processes of thinking, it must not be forgotten that the essence of all scientific knowledge is discursive thought or reasoning. Intuition plays an important role in induction as well as in deduction. In the case of induction it helps us to pass from the particular to the general. in the case of deduction, intuition helps us to guess, it prepares the way for reason to demonstrate and prove. An. idea. or a hypothesis is often the product of intuition, which serves as starting point in mathematical proofs.

So intuitive knowledge is immediately certain and cannot be doubted. Here the mind sees a necessary connection. i.e. : the mind sees the truth directly instead of having to reach it through an intermediary. Demonstrative or discursive knowledge is less easy and less clear. It consists of knowing a connection that we do not immediately see... Demonstrative knowledge is in fact nothing but a chain of intuition... Analysis and Synthesis.

All knowledge, it was said, is a process of analysis between two synthesis... The human mind has two higher activities: - An activity of dissociation through which it is capable of separating the elements of a mental whole. - An activity of combination through which it builds new mental who less. Analysis and synthesis are the current applications of there two mental processes. The Different forms of Analysis: Analysis is the process of decomposing a whole, theoretically or practically into its constituent elements, and not to its parts, for a part might not be simpler than the whole but only smaller. A piece of chalk is made of the same elements as a whole chalk.

Analysis may be either ideal (theoretical) or real. An ideal or theoretical analysis is concerned with the ideas f things and not with things themselves. It consists of decomposing these things mentally while real analysis is concerned with the ideas of things and not with things themselves. It consists of decomposing these things mentally while real analysis is, on the contrary, concerned with actually, isolating the elements of the real object itself, e.g. : chemical analysis. However, a real analysis is not always and necessarily a material analysis. Foe when we distinguish in an electric current its intensity, tension etc, we are making a real analysis.

Analysis may be rational or experimental, depending on whether what it deals with is abstract or empirical. It is rational in the case of algebraic analysis and experimental in the case of physics or chemistry. The Different forms of Synthesis: Synthesis is the converse of analysis, it is the process of reconstructing the whole out of its simple elements, i.e. : those elements that were isolated through analysis. Like analysis, it may ideal such as the construction of theories, or real such as a chemical synthesis. It also may be rational as in constructive deduction in mathematics and especially in geometry, or experimental such as the various theories on the nature of light, electromagnetism, quantum, etc.

The Respective roles of analysis and synthesis: Obviously, analysis and synthesis have different roles. We can safely, with some simplification though, that analysis is more of a process of research and discovery while synthesis is more likely to be a method of teaching what was discovered by analysis. However, this doesn. t mean that analysis should be excluded from education. On the contrary, it is essential to train the learners in the art of research, i.e. : analysis. Thus we may conclude that analysis and synthesis are not only (or exclusively) two different methods but rather two complementary processes: for there is no synthesis without a preceding analysis and no analysis can be taken for granted without the counter checking of synthesis as it is so often the case in chemistry.

It is said: . All knowledge is an analysis between two synthesis., what does this statement mean, justify it? The first knowledge one obtains of an object maybe confused, and therefore in need of analysis. Through analysis we discover the particular or individual properties of the object. This process of analysis is repeated over and over again, leading to knowledge of individual properties of a number of similar objects. The mind then recognizes that some properties are common to different objects it observed.

It synthesizes those common properties together, thus forming a concept or a general law. Neither analysis alone, nor synthesis alone can yield real knowledge. The spontaneous synthesis is a crude perception of objects; it is the unclear and natural. It does not involve a concept and thus it lacks a real cognitive role. It is best represented through the example of the mind of a child in the pre conceptual stage, where it has the potential to obtain knowledge, and yet it lacks the maturity to do so. The above stage only prepares the mind to the second stage where the mind analyzes the given representation to obtain a detailed knowledge about its different quantities.

Here, too, our knowledge is incomplete; it is knowledge of a concrete object, an individual object that exists here and now. Our knowledge is completed when the mind through an act of synthesis constructs the common properties that it obtained through analysis into one concept or law. Yet if the mind synthesized the law without analysis its conclusion would be false, since it would not be based on facts, which are obtained only through analysis. If a scientist hypothesized. all metals expand by heat., without any observation of, or experimentation on metals, then what value would his hypothesis have! For that reason it is said: . synthesis without analysis, false science; analysis without synthesis, incomplete science...

Experimental Sciences Definition: Experimental sciences rely basically on experimentation as a method for attaining truth. Their subject matter is not a prior, like that of mathematics: it is rather a posteriori. In experimental sciences we do not deal with mental creations or inventions, we rather deal with real or concrete things, actually deals with laws governing these real things. Steps or phases Experimental Sciences consists of: 1.

The Observation of Facts: Observation is the first step in the experimental method. It is defined as the direction of the senses organs towards a natural phenomenon and the perception of its properties and the changes, which occur to it. It is based on empirical intuition, namely sensory intuition. - Forms and Properties: we distinguish usually between two forms of observation: common and scientific.

- Common observation is unsystematic. The common man carries it out haphazardly, unintentionally, as a function of circumstances and without order. It is usually identified as an act of common perception. Common observation is mostly simple.

It depends on the mere sense organs with the advance of technology scientific observation has a change of recording certain phenomena, which could not be recorded before, due to limited power of the sense organs. - Scientific observation, on the other hand, may start accidental (such cases are exceptional, yet it is always 17 Followed by a deliberate, intentional, direct and systematic plan. Scientific observation must be precise and perfect. To be precise means to record all details, circumstances and conditions. Hence observation must be complete. It is the ultimate aim of a scientist to account for all observed features of phenomena.

The seemingly negligible importance of some factors may prove, on further analysis to be untrue. Ex: very slight symptoms that were unaccounted for prove, sometimes to be indications of dangerous diseases, such as the relation between the changes in the form or color of skin moles, and cancer. Scientific observation must be objective. To be objective or impartial means to record facts without any preconceived ideas, and to put side all personal or subjective feelings and desires.

- Observation as a whole, sometimes involves certain errors. Errors are usually due to the complexity of conditions, and the non-ability of the observer to put aside all his preconceives ideas while recording ideas. Value: Observation plays an important role in science. It constitutes the foundation of all scientific structures, since it supplies the scientist with facts without which his whole work would become a matter of fruitless speculation.

Observation plays an important role in science for it suggest and hypothesis. Through common and daily observation, Galileo discovered the laws of the pendulum and Torricelli discovered his theory of atmospheric pressure. 18 Scientific observation is the main tool, together with experimentation, which is, a scientist uses for the verification of a hypothesis. Ex: to find out whether metals expand by heat, simply we have to observe and measure changes, which occur to them when heated.

2. The formation of hypothesis to explain facts: the hypothesis is an attempt at understanding and exploring particular facts, which are obtained through observation and experiments. It can be defined also as interception offered by a scientist aiming at the explanation of some natural phenomena. It does not express a final judgment, and thus many different hypotheses can be suggested for the explanation of the same natural phenomena. - Forms: hypothesis has two forms: mythical and scientific. We call a hypothesis mythical when it explains natural phenomena by supernatural causes, hence it cannot be experimentally verified.

Ex: nature observes vacuum, this is mythical because people abhor es, that is, primitive people explained thunder as the wrath of gods, a good harvest as a result of scarifies. Scientific hypothesis, on the other hand has its roots in the tangible facts. It can be verified experimentally. It must be self- contradictory. - Conditions of Formation: Hypothesis formation is conditioned by external and internal factors. External factors may suggest a hypothesis.

They consist of instances observes by scientist, which attract his attention, impress him as significant, and thus suggest a new idea or a hypothesis (empirical). Internal factors consist of the past experience and knowledge of the 19 Scientist, his intelligence, as well as his creative imagination (intellectual independence). These conditions give the scientist some intimation, insight, of what significant data to look for. They are very effective, especially in the case of the more advances sciences, where the hypothesis appears as a suggestion explaining not observations but rather laws already attained. - Values: The hypothesis leads the scientific activity. It is only in the light of an accepted hypothesis that the scientist knows where to look for significant data and what experiments he has to undertake to detect it.'s validity.

Leonardo De Vinci, expressed the importance of the hypothesis in leading the scientific activity as follows: . those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain where he is going... 3. Verification of the hypothesis by experiments: Any hypothesis is subject to doubt before it is being accepted. The doubtful attitude does not aim at negating all truth, but rather aims t reaching certitude.

Claude Bernard claimed: . An explanation should not be adopted unless all had been done to destroy it and only after it has shown its resistance to all the attempts of destruction... The process of doubting and proving is called verification. Verification is defined as the process through which the falsity of any hypothesis is examined. So a hypothesis is accepted as long as it applies to facts. When showing the importance of testing the hypothesis.

20 Galileo indicated that we must not only demonstrate we must observe in order to discover whether our demonstrations are relevant to the actual physical world. Hence, verification involves a process of experimentation. Experiments are deliberately undertaken observations, which are arranged to answer a definite question. Variation is most fruitful when the scientist succeeds in creating conditions in which one factor can be varied at a time independently of other factors. Some hypotheses can be verified directly. Usually such hypotheses are connected with specific events or situation.

Some other hypothesis can be verified, for instance air pressure, only indirectly. That purpose is attained by deducing from the proposition to be verified one or more propositions, which are capable of being tested or verified directly. If the inferred consequent came to be true, the hypothesis when would be confirmed, but we have not to be extremely optimistic here, for sometimes the consequent might be true even though the premises from which it was deduced are not. Therefore, verification involves a process of inductive reasoning, which leads to conclusions that are highly probable, it cannot lead to absolute truth, that is due to the fact that the scientist depends on a limited number of facts to reach a conclusion which applies to an infinite number of facts or cases.

When hypothesis is confirmed by any reliable and qualified number of scientists it becomes a scientific law. The law would be accepted unless future facts or discoveries contradict it. In this case it would either be rejected altogether or at least modified. Scientific Laws: The ultimate aim of scientists is the formation of scientific laws. 21 They attain this goal when the verified hypothesis proves. it is resistance to all attempts of destruction... A scientific law is defined as a constant relationship between natural phenomena.

- Are laws causal relationships? Scientific laws constitute the elements of the phase after the last action in the experimental method. Scientists were always interested in finding the causes of things. The word cause mean that which produces and effect. According to Comte, men found a supernatural cause for every natural phenomenon, during the theological stage. In the present stage, which he called the positive stage, men are no more interested in finding the ultimate causes of things; they rather seek a description of how things occur.

- Are there any necessary connections? Through the process of verification we could see that when past events confirm the hypothesis it becomes a scientific law. But can we prove that future events will confirm it as well? A physical law is the formulation of some uniformity, but what are the logical grounds for the belief in the uniformity of nature? Are there, or are there not, necessary relationships that bind natural phenomena together.

Affirmation of Determinism: Some philosophers think that nature is organized according to a mathematical structure. Everything is well organized to function according to a predetermined law. Other philosophers believe that natural phenomena occur accidentally to divine will, which can change the course of events as it want, and in any direction that it chooses. However, when scientists seek truth they think of the world as a structure that is governed by determinism.

They believe that 22 Under the same conditions the same causes result in the same effects. Chance and miracles are occurrences, which contradicts natural laws only apparently. They arte rather connected with phenomena that occur under very complex conditions, which render the available instruments of research unable to explore their real nature. Religious and Scientific support of chance: On the contrary, most f the Holy Scriptures as well as some reported individual experiences or any events that do not follow the principle of determinism, suggest the existence of chance and miracles. Werner Heisenberg stated in his famous. uncertainty principle. that there is an inherent in determinacy in the very nature of the quantum lays of physical motion. Ex: in trying to determine at the same time the position and the velocity of an electron, the error involved is of such a magnitude that it approaches the quantity to be measured.

Thus, there are limits to what we can observer, these limits are imposed both by chance, or the statistical nature of natural phenomena and by the accuracy that we use to measure these phenomena. Meaning of the term truth in science: The aim of science is to attain truth. But one may ask, what does the term truth mean in science? Truth in science consists of a description of facts and relationships between them.

The method employed for this purpose, specifically the experimental method, consists of an inductive process that promises nothing more than attaining high probability. Truth is statistical not absolute. - Value: scientific laws have great practical importance, they help man to foretell the future when a scientist states that all metals expand by heat, he means all metals everywhere and at all times. 23 Mathematics Definition: Mathematics is the science of numbers and operations, combinations, and abstractions.

So mathematics can be defined as: . The science of quantities and measurements... mathematical truths are demonstrated, that is, connected rigorous deduction to propositions posited as true definitions, axioms, and postulates. The emergence of non-Euclidean geometries is an indication that whatever so called sense experience was at the origin of the Euclidean one cannot be summoned to explain their totally different notions. The Role of Mathematics in Science: Mathematics is the science of numbers and qualities. It measures, transforms qualities into quantities and thus renders our knowledge of things more precise and accurate. There is little doubt that mathematics has influenced our understanding of the natural word, it has been said that the world is mathematical at the deepest level, whether mathematical knowledge comes to us as a result of some connection to natural phenomena is another matter.

Pythagoras in 6th century taught, . Numbers govern the world., while Aristotle in the 4th century thought that mathematics is the science of quantities and the science of nature is concerned with qualities. Thus have a little to do with each other. Descartes too said: . mathematics can make all arts and crafts easier and lessen man.'s work... this however, ceased to be the case with the advent of the 17th century, when Kepler discovered that the trajectory of marks is an ellipse, when Galileo had the idea of using mathematical formulas to study nature. He gave an algebraic expression to free-fall.

Newton 24 Called his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (mathematical principles of natural philosophy). Thus the Pythagorean vie seemed to be vindicated by modern physics, but not quite. The major difference is: while the Pythagoras saw numbers as realities, the modern physics views them as operational symbols. For him, numbers don not. govern. the world. They are used as an adequate instrument to translate the relations between its various components. Even since the 17th century mathematics became the preferred means of expressing laws and principles with complete precision.

They are now the. Esperanto of Reason., that is a universal language currently spoken by the physicist, the chemist, and more recently by the biologist, and today by the psychologist, the economist and the sociologist. Mathematical models are used in these sciences (think of Mendel.'s statistics and statistical in both psychology an sociology). It is precisely because scientific knowledge is concerned with measurements, in quantitative variations, that it can only use the mathematical language. Its progress is linked to the progress of mathematical formalism as much as it is to that in instruments and experimental techniques. Mathematical expression has many advantages chief among them is that: - It is economical.

The same differential equations are used in electrostatics, hydrodynamics, and the thermodynamics. - It is concise. MM. /D^2 express briefly and correctly a long statement. Mathematics, above all, has it.'s own intrinsic value. Geometry and mechanics can be considered the direct applications of mathematics. 25 There is no science but of the measurable: Mathematics is the science of magnitudes, that is of all that increases or decreases in number pr space.

Quantifiable factors and relations are the backbone of the experimental sciences whose method consists of three major steps: o Observation of facts o Formulation of a hypothesis o Experimental verification of this hypothesis In order to establish a law, a principle, or any scientific truth, the scientist in the experimental sciences relies heavily on measurements in the course of this threefold method. To illustrate Torricelli who invented the concept of air pressure had to make various measurements during his observation of the site of the water well in Florence in order to suppose a possible relation between the fact of the well being too deep (deeper than the equivalent of 10.33 m) and the fact that the water not coming up in the pipe. Then he had to make another measurement in the formulation of the hypothesis and during the experiments he made with the mercury tube. Moreover, . to discover a new instrument capable of measuring qualitative phenomena that had never lend itself to qualified ly measurements is, according to Louis Rougher, to usher in a new chapter in science. La voisier created chemistry the day he decided to use a balance, Bert helot founded thermo chemistry the day he utilized a calorimeter...

Thus we see how indispensable is measurement in scientific knowledge. Psychology Concepts Mark Atallah Last Updated 30/12/200 26 Scientific Knowledge and its Characteristics Scientific knowledge and common knowledge: The word science has always been a synonym of knowledge and an antonym of ignorance. What kind of knowledge is it? Science can be defined as that form of knowledge, which is sure and certain, objective, qualitative and organized or formulated into a law.

- Common Knowledge: Historically and individually, the first of knowledge is common knowledge. It is the body knowledge gained through one.'s daily experience and the cumulative experience of mankind. The first characteristic of this knowledge is the confusion of the subjective and the objective. I perceive the world the way I am, that is, to a large extent the way I was brought up.

And I believe that I perceive it as it is. I share in the prevailing illusions, superstitions, and misconceptions spontaneously lurking in language. The waters are sleeping, the sum is setting, and the sky is blue, etc, as if sky was something out there. I project on the world what I have been taught to believe.

Common knowledge is also characterized by its heavy reliance on spontaneous perception. This perception, however, is not accurate, precise, for the following reasons: o It reveals a world of apparent qualities such colors, sounds, scents and is therefore limited to our sense perception. o It decomposes this world into pseudo simple element: air, fire, water, earth. o Objects and actions are vaguely described. Pulling is different from pushing, marble is cold, wool is 27 warm, lead is heavy, world earth, universe are often confused in usage, a layman who utters the word. earth. is hardly aware of its being the third planet from the sun, or that the sun itself is just another star in the milky way. o It assumes that. facts., hypothesis made it happen, are out there waiting to be known. Common knowledge is often a combination of reality and personal dreams hence it is subjective.

Man is evil by nature and women are inferior to men. All these examples show how facts are distributed by personal influences or biases (social biases). One who claims that man is evil by nature may reach such a judgment out of his personal experience, and irrespective of the relations of the other people toward each other, to judge that women are inferior to men is to contradict reality in many respects since many women have proven their superiority over men. - Scientific Knowledge: Scientific knowledge, in contrast, substitutes quantities to qualities.

It is based on measurements. Instead of sounds, colors, science studies vibrations with definite wave, length and frequencies. The basis elements are. simpler. then the traditional four. The latter appeared simple due to lack of analysis, which would rove them complex. The notion of fore is at the root of both pulling and pushing. Objective conductivity replaces subjective sensations and weight is a relation.

Facts are constructed through a rational process: heat is felt, temperature is the result of a measurements implying the use of an instrument, and as such is different from heat, air pressure is not a 28 given fact, it is the result of long process of analysis and verification. That is why it was said, somewhat excessively, . facts are made... The word revealed by scientific investigation enlarges tremendously the limits of what we can know, and surpasses the restricted limits of sense perception. Hence science refers not to any knowledge but to a special sort there of: it is systematic, objective, and formulated knowledge. o Systematic: it is not haphazard or unintentional, but rather follows an intentional and rational plan. o Objective: it is independent of individual or ethnic opinion, and subject to verification by any competent person. o Formulated: it is based on measurements whose relations are often formulated in mathematical equations. In science every natural phenomena is explained in terms of a theory or a general law which is universally applicable, it follows that science constructs an organized body of knowledge where each element is connected with the other elements and functions according to definite rules and principles. This scientific attitude, however, is not spontaneous in humans it is result of a long process of evolution.

What are the main stages of this evolution? The Difference Between Common Knowledge and Scientific Knowledge: In fact, science has qualities that put it at the antipodes (opposite) with common knowledge. There is a sharp distinction between what is science and what is common knowledge. That distinction results from the differences between the foundations, methods, structures and orientation of each one of them. 29 First of all, it must be said that knowledge in all of its forms is an outcome of man.'s cognitive powers. Thus scientific and common knowledge share the quality of being aspects of man.'s knowledge.

However, Copernicus and Galileo did not revolt against common knowledge but rather against the ideas of Ptolemy (geocentric ism) and Aristotle who was the most admirable authorities of science in their ages. The theory of relativity did not evolve out of common knowledge but rather from already establishes scientific theories and laws. Thus opposition and negation are two movements experienced within science itself. Auguste Comte.'s Principle of The Three Stages: Theological, Metaphysical, And Positive: - The Theological Stage: Natural phenomena were explained as the result of supernatural causes whereas inert matter was believed to be animated within spirits. Every phenomenon had a God, and functioned according to his will. Gods were the causes of things, rain, and war, and even love was determined by their will.

- The Metaphysical Stage: Man believed in one omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient god. Instead of many gods having different powers. To Aristotle things move according to their natural properties. It is intrinsic in the nature of earth to move downwards and fire to move upwards. - The Positive Stage: Came last and it still continues. Now the scientific mind does not seek the ultimate causes of things, it is rather satisfied in a description of how facts occur and in finding relationships, i.e. laws among them.

30 Although the scientific spirit or attitude is based on a natural curiosity yet it acquired the following properties along its course of historical evolution: fofnFree: The scientific mind is free of all authority except that of reason. A scientist does not submit to the authority of religion, politics, or traditions. fofnPositive: Its explanations of the universe are of the kind, which characterizes the positive stage, the scientific spirit views the different occurrences of nature simply, as they are, without ascribing them to supernatural powers that can never be detected. fofnCritical: The scientific attitude towards truth is doubtful. Doubt is not used here for the destruction of truth, as the sophists used it, its aim is certainty itself. In other words, doubt motivates the scientist to seek a more reliable foundation for scientific finding. fofnBelief in Determinism: The scientific mind believes in the existence of necessary relation ships among natural phenomena. It thinks of the world as an organized structure, a perfect system that has its rules and laws and thus it excludes all reference to chance in its explanation of natural phenomena. The scientist assumes an underlying order in nature, a system of events processes and phenomena that are predictable because they occur repeatedly with some sort of regularity.

The quest is to peer beneath the surface of differences and regularity. The quest is to peer beneath the surface of differences and particulars to the foundation of 31 similarities and generalities. In fact, science could attain its great successes only when scientist started departing from old dogma about nature.'s free activity or divine wills in determining the course of natural events. fofnDisinterestedness: The attitude of the scientist towards truth is impartial. He seeks truth for its own sake regardless of all personal benefit or interest, and irrespective of all preconceived ideas. His aim is pure truth. The Relationship between Science and Technology: Scientific activity is, in principle, distinct from technological activity.

Science is concerned with the discovery of objective relations between objects given in reality. Technology may be understood, in the broadest sense, as the set of clearly defined procedures aimed at producing results that humans deem useful for one reason or another. In its pursuit of objectivity, science strives to eliminate any subjective preference. Technology, on the other hand, is at the service of those needs and desires of ours that science struggles to ignore. Thus technology is an effort to produce what we wish to be and is not, while science is an effort to simply know what is. Science is a perfectible image of the world, while technology is a way of operating on reality.

Technology is an applied knowledge. Once the established facts and laws are known, men try to make the most f them in satisfying their needs and desires. Positive Technology Precedes Positive Science: It is an observable fact that efficient technology existed will before the formal constitution of any positive science. Technology seems to 32 presuppose science. Logically, it seems to be an application of an already existing knowledge and the attainment of a certain level of efficiency corresponding to the level of rationality of that knowledge. However, the history of science and technology shows that things in reality take a very different course in happening.

The primitive people have no knowledge worth being called science. Their theories of nature, or worldview, remain deplorably caught in superstitious and anthropomorphic illusions. Yet, they have very clear techniques: the canoes they make, for instance, are perfectly adapted to their purposes. If efficient technology preceded positive science, that is because the oldest techniques and instruments are mere extensions of man.'s limbs... Knowing how. preceded knowing. On the other had, the urgency of immediate action required the application of certain empirical procedures that were discovered by chance well before to understand the scientific grounds of their efficiency.

That is why Voltaire said: . if theory had to precede practice, centuries would have elapsed before we could displace one single rock... Science is Constituted as an Answer to Technical Demands: Historically, practice preceded theory, and technology preceded science. We usually find at the origin of all sciences some practical preoccupations. The first mathematicians were the ancient Egyptian land surveyors. These. geo-metericians., literally, these earth- measures had to redistribute the lands after each flooding of the Nile River.

Discontinuity Between Technology and Science: Science is an entirely different thing from a mere extension of spontaneous pre scientific technology to improve on them. The failures of old 33 technology stimulate scientific research and eventually lead to new discoveries. The technician faces obstacles standing in the way of his practical activity. The scientist studies the mechanism of these hurdles. For instance, the fountain markers of the 17th century Florence failed to pump the water in the pipes from a depth exceeding 10.3 m. The scientist, Torricelli in this case, studies these practical difficulties and formulates them as a theoretical problem.

He did not ask himself how to pump the water in pipes, but rather why the water could not be pumped from the depth. The technician wants to act whereas the scientist seeks to understand. Science is not only the servant of technology, it responds to a purely intellectual curiosity. Disinterested Science Improves Existing Technology: When Hertz discovered the electromagnetic frequency he could not anticipate the various practical consequences of his discovery, in radio and TV broadcasting and other appliances.

In fact the spirit that used the scientific method in establishing new theories is more capable of dealing with practical problems. Bache lard, a French contemporary philosopher, gives a simple and interesting example in this respect: humans used, until the 20th century, to burn some substances in order to produce light. In the 20th century, a real revolution took place with the invention of electric bulb. This. lamp. will only produce light if, and as long as, we prevent the light producing substance from burning. Paradoxically, when it stops producing light we say, . it is burnt up! What are the Properties of a Scientist?

A scientist is a person who 34 is motivated y natural curiosity to seek truth, he is gifted a high level of intelligence, creativity and intuition, he has gained the scientific spirit, his experience and knowledge in his field of research are extensive and deep, and the historical epoch provides him with the necessary prerequisites for discovery. Is it sufficient in order to define the scientific knowledge to oppose it to common knowledge? What are the characteristics of scientific knowledge? Psychology Concepts Mark Atallah Last Updated 30/12/200 35 Biology The Experimental Method in Biology: Scientists to formulate general laws use the experimental method. It consists of three main stages: 1) observation of facts. 2) Hypothesis formation, 3) the verification of the hypothesis by controlled observation and experiments.

French physiologist Clause Bernard is regarded as the founder of experimental medicine. His insistence that an experiment should be designed either to prove or disprove a guiding hypothesis is an integral part of the modern scientific method. Y experimenting on animals, he discovered the role of the liver in the transformation, storage and use of sugar in the body. In the early 19th century contemporaries of Claude Bernard used to think that the sugar in animals. blood came exclusively from their food and that it is destroyed through respiration.

Claude Bernard, however, found that the blood of all animals contains some sugar even when they don. t eat sweet substances. It was well known, in his time, that plants transform glucose into soluble starch (as in potatoes). Claude Bernard thought that sugar obeys, in animals, a mechanism similar to that, which is known in plants. So he presumed the existence of a particular organ whose job is to perform this function, he then found out it was the liver.

Thus Claude Bernard demonstrated that the process of experimenting is applicable in biology in much the same manner as it is in the physician chemical sciences. He emphasized the fundamental role of the hypothesis in directing the experimental techniques destined to verify it. Experimentation is an observation provoked by the scientist under certain definite conditions that he has determined in order to verify the hypothesis. 36 Can Biology apply the Experimental Method successfully?

- Difficulties of the Experimental Method in biology: - Unlike inert matter, living matter is in a state of constant transformation. Ex: Human beings die, but death does not mean their transformation into inert matter, since other forms of life emerge from the decomposition of their bodies. - Living tings are extremely complex in structure. Ex: the simplest living structure is much more complex than the most complex compound composed of inert matter. - The living structure is peculiar in its composition.

Ex: no two living entities are completely alike. - Unity if the living body. The living body functions as a unified organism. To understand any compound it should be analyzed and then reconstructed once more.

To analyze a living body would destroy the property of life. Thus it would be impossible for scientist to reconstruct it once more. For the above four reasons, it is evident that biology faces more difficulties in its application of the experimental method than physics or chemistry. The most important of these difficulties are manifested at three main levels: observation, experimentation and laws. - Observation: The object of biology i.e. : life is complex and changing: - Complexity; The living body is composed of a great 37 Number of interacting elements; hence observation is difficult to apply in the field of biology due to the complexity of the living organism. - Change; The living body is constantly changing; it cannot be the same at two different times.

- Experimentation; It is a means used by the scientist to verify the hypothesis. Like observation, is application faces many difficulties in the field of biology + Moral Difficulty: One can easily experiment on inert matter. Yet when experimentation is to be carried out on human bodies it is faced with a moral difficulty. Certain religious sects refuse experimentation even on dead bodies. Also there are voices, which protest against the use of animals for experimental purposes, particularly when that hurts the animal or tortures it. - Conclusion: The complexity, change, and unity of living beings render the methods used in physics and chemistry insufficient for the study of life.

But biology is one of the experimental sciences, what methods does it use to attain this aim? - Possibilities of the experimental method in Biology: - Observation: Although it is difficult to observe in biology, yet it is possible (through observing surgical cases: car accident, injured people, war casualties). Thus 38 Through the advance of technology it is possible to explore certain phenomena, which were unattainable by the mere sense organs. Microscopes (instruments) radiography (processes), and many other instruments help the biologist to observe the funniest particles in the body, the interior organs without dissection (vivisection) and many other things. Observation is becoming more and more accurate and quantitative through the application of certain means of measurements. Thus the biologist can measure the temperature of the living body, the pressure of the blood, the number of blood cells, the rate of sugar.

- Experimentation: Biologists have always a possibility to study the structure and physiology of a human body by applying modern techniques, and trying the effect of certain drugs during sickness. With respect to animals the moral difficulty is reduced to a minimum and scientists are making their experiments freely. - Conclusion: Biology can be considered an experimental science in spite of all the difficulties, which face observations and experimentation on living things. In fact most of difficulties, which are of moral or religious nature, are concerned with the study of human body. Plants and animals can be experimented upon without being faced with real difficulties. Could we speak of biological sciences?

What is the role of experimentation in biology? Human Sciences The Experimental Method in Human Sciences: Can human sciences be considered real sciences? Can man be the object of science? Can his behavior be subjected to the rules of determinism? Can psychology, or sociology be considered as a real science? Can they formulate laws?

Can the psychologist or sociologist verify their hypothesis experimentally? The experimental method involves three main actions, which are observation, experimentation, and formation of laws. Its application in the field of human sciences is faced with many difficulties, and at the same time it has certain possibilities. - Difficulties: Science seeks a reduction of complexity into simple structures by reducing individual differences to a minimum, till the establishment of one principle, a law according to which all actions are explained. - Observation: The object of human sciences is too complex. The psychologist deals with phenomena, which result from the interaction between social, mental and physical elements.

The sociologist deals with phenomena where material, economical and individual elements interact together. The psychologist deals with man whose stream of consciousness is constantly changing, which led William James and Bergson to say that: . Mobility and change are two major qualities of the stream of consciousness. The sociologist equally deals with constantly changing phenomena. Tradition and customs undergo a process of constant evolution.

The different Prac.