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Understanding Science and Preventing It from Becoming Pseudoscience

Received: 15 June 2021    Accepted: 8 July 2021    Published: 15 July 2021
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Abstract

The motivation to write a paper on the general nature of science comes from the scientific nature of Quran, which has been a guidance and help in revealing that science is an ontological and teleological construct which the Quran supports. A much-needed discussion of science had to be done because the trend among the people today suggest anything remotely sounding science has become a substituting value for religion and God. People have started believing rather blindly, in science without really understanding what it is, how it works and its limitations. What is science and what is the purpose of science? This paper explains the answers of the question and help reader understand the difference between science and pseudoscience which often people mistake as one. It explains the difference from example of macroevolution, single common ancestor and natural selection. The discussion also elaborates on the essential foundations of science that makes science, science. At the end, the paper elaborates why science cannot be used to ascertain moral truths. The discussion has been analytical in nature rooted in classic literature of philosophy of science and sociology. The readers will come to appreciate the fine principles of science and it’s limitations in revealing scientific truths.

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11
Page(s) 127-135
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Science, The Scientific Method, The Evolution of Science, Morality and Science, Pseudoscience

References
[1] Wagdi, Dr Mohammad N., and Ph.D. “Islam: Creation, Science, Miracle, Quran & Religion. Book Exploring the Qur’an.” Scienceinquran.com, 2016, scienceinquran.com/. Accessed 20 June 2021.
[2] Lakatos I (1973), Science and Pseudoscience, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Dept of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, (archive of transcript), archived from the original (mp3) on 25 July 2011.
[3] Rahman, Mohammad M. “The Atheist Delusion Rebuttal of the Four Horsemen Part 1 & 2.” ResearchGate, ResearchGate, 2021, www.researchgate.net/publication/352213210_The_Atheist_Delusion_Rebuttal_of_the_Four_Horsemen_Part_1_2 Accessed 2021.
[4] Carnap, Rudolf. “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology.” Revue Internationale De Philosophie, vol. 4, no. 11, 1950, pp. 20–40. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23932367. Accessed 18 June 2021.
[5] Van Orman Quine, Willard. “Two Dogmas of Empiricism.” Sententiae, vol. 33, no. 2, 16 Dec. 2015, pp. 9–26, 10.22240/sent33.02.009.
[6] Pandya, SunilK. “Understanding Brain, Mind and Soul: Contributions from Neurology and Neurosurgery.” Mens Sana Monographs, vol. 9, no. 1, 2011, p. 129, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115284/, 10.4103/0973-1229.77431.
[7] Suppe, Frederick. “The Structure of Scientific Theories.” Systematic Zoology, vol. 27, no. 3, Sept. 1978, p. 386, 10.2307/2412897.
[8] Craver, Carl F. “Structures of Scientific Theories.” The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science, 21 Jan. 2008, pp. 55–79, 10.1002/9780470756614.ch4. Accessed 18 June 2021.
[9] Hempel, C. “Two Models of Scientific Explanation.” PhilPapers, Routledge, 2002, philpapers.org/rec/HEMTMO. Accessed 15 June 2021.
[10] Woodward, Jim. “Explanation, Invariance, and Intervention.” Philosophy of Science, vol. 64, Dec. 1997, pp. S26–S41, 10.1086/392584.
[11] Rahman, Mohammad M. “The Islamic Society: The Sociological Perspective.” ResearchGate, ResearchGate, 2021, www.researchgate.net/publication/347424572_The_Islamic_Society_The_Sociological_Perspective_4th_Ed Accessed 2021.
[12] Tbakhi, Abdelghani, and Samir S. Amr. “Ibn Al-Haytham: Father of Modern Optics.” Annals of Saudi Medicine, vol. 27, no. 6, Nov. 2007, pp. 464–467, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074172/, 10.5144/0256-4947.2007.464. Accessed 17 June 2021.
[13] Feyerabend, P. “Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism.” Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 3, no. ed. H. Feigl and G. Maxwell, 1962, pp. 29–97.
[14] Kuhn, Thomas S. The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. 1977. Chicago, Ill., Univ. Of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 320–9.
[15] Silberstein, Michael. “Reduction, Emergence and Explanation.” The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science, 21 Jan. 2008, pp. 80–107, 10.1002/9780470756614.ch5. Accessed 18 June 2021.
[16] Craig, William Lane. “Why Is Evolution so Widely Believed? | Reasonable Faith.” Www.reasonablefaith.org, 11 Oct. 2021, www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/why-is-evolution-so-widely-believed/. Accessed 18 June 2021.
[17] Fallon, Francis. “What Darwin Got Wrong.” International Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, Oct. 2010, pp. 598–603, 10.1080/09672559.2010.513183. Accessed 19 Oct. 2019.
[18] Fodor, Jerry A, and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. What Darwin Got Wrong. London, Profile, 2010, pp. 100–113.
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[20] Beatty, J. (1984): “Chance and Natural Selection,” Philosophy of Science, 51, 183–211.
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    Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman. (2021). Understanding Science and Preventing It from Becoming Pseudoscience. International Journal of Philosophy, 9(3), 127-135. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11

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    Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman. Understanding Science and Preventing It from Becoming Pseudoscience. Int. J. Philos. 2021, 9(3), 127-135. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11

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    AMA Style

    Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman. Understanding Science and Preventing It from Becoming Pseudoscience. Int J Philos. 2021;9(3):127-135. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11,
      author = {Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman},
      title = {Understanding Science and Preventing It from Becoming Pseudoscience},
      journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {127-135},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20210903.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20210903.11},
      abstract = {The motivation to write a paper on the general nature of science comes from the scientific nature of Quran, which has been a guidance and help in revealing that science is an ontological and teleological construct which the Quran supports. A much-needed discussion of science had to be done because the trend among the people today suggest anything remotely sounding science has become a substituting value for religion and God. People have started believing rather blindly, in science without really understanding what it is, how it works and its limitations. What is science and what is the purpose of science? This paper explains the answers of the question and help reader understand the difference between science and pseudoscience which often people mistake as one. It explains the difference from example of macroevolution, single common ancestor and natural selection. The discussion also elaborates on the essential foundations of science that makes science, science. At the end, the paper elaborates why science cannot be used to ascertain moral truths. The discussion has been analytical in nature rooted in classic literature of philosophy of science and sociology. The readers will come to appreciate the fine principles of science and it’s limitations in revealing scientific truths.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Bath, Bath, UK

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