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Do Theories Have to be Testable to be Scientific?
root wrote in message ...
Richard Alexander wrote: Historical events are--surprise!--History, not Science, and History is distinct from Science. But it might take science to reveal history. The distinction isn't as clear as you suggest. There is a difference between science involvement and being a science. Many church auditoriums are designed through the science of acoustics, but that doesn't mean that religion is a science. Certain terms have taken on a life of their own. A "quantum leap" or "quantum advance" is used where we would normally say a "huge leap" or a "huge advance." Of course, a true quantum leap is an extremely small thing, the difference, say, in electron orbits. Likewise, saying that something is not scientific has become akin to saying that something is erroneous. In reality, something is scientific if it is observed under the scientific method, which includes testability. Very few things qualify, but that should not be taken to mean that everything else is untrustworthy or false. There may be some gray area. Is Engineering a Science? I would generally say it is not, because Engineering is the application of knowledge, not the exploration for additional knowledge. Even so, it is quite possible or even likely that a cutting-edge engineering project will require real, old-fashioned Science to reach a successful conclusion. And, is Engineering scientific? Well, it can be--though Engineering can also be intuitive. Intuitive projects are not scientific, at least partly because they are not quantified (and I distinguish between intuition and mathematical talent, as Gauss is said to have possessed). |
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