by Cyn Bagley

Created on: December 05, 2011

When we think of science, we usually think of the hard sciences like astronomy, biology, and physics. We think of science as a body of research that measures the world around us. And yes, that is part of science, but science is a lot more than the scientific method or even the counting of stars, it includes psychology and sociology, the study of human nature and culture.

Science has a schizophrenic nature that is not apparent until you look into its history.

Scientific History

One thing I like to remind people who have a scientific bent is that Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer of gravity, was extremely interested in alchemy, specifically turning base metals into gold. In a review on "Modern Alchemy" Patrick Stewart writes that " The prevailing scientific view was, and still is, that alchemy was an aberration and that Newton's interest and experiments in this field were due to his partial mental breakdown." It is interesting though that the year after he started his alchemical experiments that he had put his theory of gravity together.

Also, astronomy's relationship to astrology is embarrassing to some scientists. Until the 17th Century astrology was considered a science that was related to astronomy and medicine. Astrology was separated from astronomy and became a divination practice.

Scientific Method

It is interesting that the modern use of the scientific method comes from Newton's Rules of Reasoning, which are founded on Francis Bacon's empirical reasoning. The following is a condensed version of the scientific method:

1. Observe the phenomenon

2. Formulate an hypothesis

3. Use the hypothesis to predict movement in other phenomenon

4. Test the hypothesis

Soft Sciences

The soft sciences such as psychology, philosophy, and human related sciences cannot use scientific method in the same way. When the human element is inserted into science, it is harder to test. It seems that each person may have different experiences with different stimuli. When I was going to college in the 80's, there were some students in these softer studies who wanted to receive more respect from the students in the harder science.

It amused me a few years later in the early 1990s when I picked up a book on theoretical physics and it sounded like I was reading the mystic writings of Carlos Castaneda. It talked about electrons that could go backwards and forwards in time. Also, that if you observed the electron different ways that you would get different readings.

In Conclusion

I do enjoy science. But, I think that a new method other than the scientific method should be used to study human type behaviors. Also I think that science has myopic sight, in that it cannot observe or measure behaviors that are not accepted by the scientific community like psychics and visions.

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167 : There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

And I agree, there is more things in heaven and earth, than can be measured by science.

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