Intuitive Science
Sometimes received knowledge, or ethnoscience, that offers what seems a logical
explanation for some phenomenon, but is often in error in some detail or entirety.
An example: we have seasons because the earth's orbit gets farther from the soon in
winter. The intuitive part, in one sense right, says that the farther from a heat source
you are, the colder it is. The real science relates to the tilt of the earth on its axis.
Most are reluctant to give up their intuitive approaches even when confronted with
evidence and may even try to weave the real science into their intuitive science.
The purposes of science:
Explantion
The process of developing relationships between the known and the unknown.
John Hospers in his Journal of Philosophy (1947) article "On Explanation"
discusses several classes of explantion. One can explain by reference to what some
thinking being had in mind (e.g. God's will), by noting it as an occurrence of a general
class of phenomena (because everybody does it, or taxonomy in science), general laws
(gravity), or looking at connecting links between co-occurring phenomena. The type of
explanation used often results from the type of explantion that will satisfy whoever asks
the question "why?" He also discusses the idea of "an ultimate brute
question Why?"
Once relationships are clear, then hypotheses can be developed. They are If:Then statements of conditions yielding certain results.
Once predictions can be made, then control is possible. In magic and religion this is ritual. In science it is experiment and hypothesis testing.
Science process includes another step, the falsification of hypotheses. This means that science tries to prove itself false. Contrary to popular belief, it does not try to prove ideas true. This notion is often misunderstood or misrepresented.
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larry-zimmerman@uiowa.edu
University of Iowa Anthropology
08/18/98