What Is Science?

Here's one anwer:

"Simply put, science is knowledge of nature and pursuit of that knowledge. Yet this pursuit involves a great deal. It involves, among other things, a history, a method of inquiry, and a community of inquirers. Today, especially, science is a cultural force of overwhelming importance and a source of information indispensable to technology."

And here's another:

"Science is not so much a collection of facts as it is a method for converting ideas into facts. Its 'rules' are so fundamental to our culture that they are as invisible as water to a fish. The first rule is that Anyone Can Play; that is, anyone gets to challenge any idea....The second rule is that a statement is not true because Someone Authoritative says it is true, but because the method used to test it gives the same results regardless of who does the checking or who made the statement.

"Truth is independent of Authority. This is heady stuff. It is the source not only of particle physics and organic chemistry, but of most Western political and social institutions -- indeed, of liberalism itself, in both its left-wing and right-wing versions. Can you imagine investigative journalism without those two axioms? Progressive education? Experimental fiction?....

"Science is democratic, but not in the sense that knowledge is decided by popular vote....Science is democratic because Anyone Can Play. You need no Special Talent or Magic Power; you need not be descended from the Ancient Blood or blessed by the Elder Gods. All you need is patience, careful study, and a basic objectivity....Your ideas (and challenges) are just as good as anyone else's. Not that they are TRUE, mind you; but they are subject to the same ruthless winnowing, equally entitled to be tested and attacked. You throw your beautiful idea into the ring and watch it get hammered by ugly facts. Only the survivors will be accepted -- tentatively -- as knowledge."

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