On the two main meanings of “science” as used in this course:
We have used the word “science” in two different ways. One of them corresponds with the way it is commonly used today: “science” means “modern natural science.” It is devoted to the investigation and mastery of nature in order to improve the quality of human life. “Science” in this sense follows very careful procedures, relies heavily on experimentation and mathematics, and can take credit (and, sometimes, blame) for having put vast new powers into human hands. As authors like Huxley and Bacon note, science in this sense acquires its strength in part by limiting itself to certain sorts of questions; it also must leave many important issues out of its purview. One of the founders of science in this sense was Francis Bacon.
But the word “science” comes from the Latin scientia, and it had an important history long before Bacon and modern natural science. In this older sense, “science” meant the careful, systematic, rational investigation of nature, of human beings, of ethics, of politics, and of religion or the gods. Science in this sense had little or no hope or expectation of conquering nature or transforming human life; its only goal was to understand. It was theoretical, not practical. And while it did not assume all interesting questions could be answered, it did not shy away from trying to resolve questions that we would consider to be outside the scope of modern natural science. In this sense, Socrates was a scientist. “Science” in this sense is more like what we think of as “philosophy.” One reason we have used this old view of science is to try to keep this alive the question of the advantages and disadvantages of the newer Baconian view of modern natural science.
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