Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Natural Sciences

What are the Natural sciences?

A natural science by definition is a branch of science which deals with the physical world, e.g. physics, chemistry, geology, biology. Moreover, the constant evolution of these sciences is essentially the medium that allows for the expansion of our knowledge of the living world around us. 

How do the natural sciences gain knowledge of the world? 

Unlike other facets of our lives, natural sciences are very much grounded in reality and realism, for the lack of better words. The constituents of knowledge that fall under the umbrella of "natural sciences" are oft derived from theoretical and practical findings with further evidence to support the claims being made. Thus, the influence of bias, emotion and religious faith and/or beliefs is minimal in the realm of natural sciences. Subsequently, the knowledge gained from the natural sciences can also be classified as oft- universally accepted shared knowledge, whereby initial conjectures and hypotheses from different knowledgable individuals amalgamate to form the basis of a mutual scientifically accepted conclusive stance. 

We can look, for instance, the Rosalind Franklin's discovery of the 'X' or double helix shape of the DNA molecule. Or, perhaps even looking back at Newton's discovery of the phenomenon of gravity. The aforementioned cited discoveries serve as examples of theories that have since been the building blocks of knowledge in the natural sciences. 

However, one thing to keep in mind in relation to discoveries that pertain to natural sciences is the fact that the knowledge embedded in natural sciences must always be worthy of falsification or validation through the means of complementary evidence to support, prove or disprove a notion. Moreover, for a piece of knowledge to even be deemed as "knowledge" in the realm of natural sciences, theories/explorations are carried out in-numerous times by different scientists to finally be classified as worthy of recognition. Hence, it is safe to say that the world of natural sciences is utterly stringent with the information it allows for consumption by those who wish to be informed. 



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