Area of knowledge - The natural sciences

Area of knowledge - The natural sciences

The natural sciences are often seen to rely on evidence, rationality and the quest for deeper understanding. Observation and experimentation play a key role, and terms such as “theory” have a special meaning in the natural sciences compared to how they are used in daily life and in other areas of knowledge.

A focus for discussions of the natural sciences could be what differentiates the scientific from the non-scientific or “pseudo-scientific”. Many people would suggest that it is the methods used in the natural sciences that is the key distinguishing factor—which raises the question of what it is about these methods that means that the knowledge they generate is often regarded as being highly reliable.

Students could also consider whether the word “science” means different things in different languages, or whether it has been used differently in different periods of history.

Another interesting focus for discussions could be scientific development, revolutions and paradigm shifts. This could include what is meant by a paradigm shift, whether scientific knowledge has always grown, or how technological developments have driven scientific progress and discoveries. It could also include reflection on whether we could ever reach a point where everything important to the natural sciences is known.

Students could also consider the role of consensus in the natural sciences, and the role and importance of the “scientific community”. For example, they could consider the role of peer review as a method of scrutinizing scientific claims and the extent to which this is an effective and objective form of self-regulation.

This could lead to discussions of whether or not scientific knowledge is, or should be, amenable to public scrutiny. It could also lead to wider reflection on whether there are commonly agreed values, methodologies and assumptions about knowledge that underpin all scientific inquiry.

Another rich source of material for TOK discussions relating to the natural sciences can come from the issue of funding. A great deal of scientific research is funded by private for-profit companies and by governments, which raises interesting questions around how the priorities for funding scientific research are determined and who it is that determines which research directions are pursued.

Examples of knowledge questions arising from this area of knowledge are suggested below.

Examples of knowledge questions

Scope

• Why might some people regard science as the supreme form of all knowledge?

• Should the natural sciences be regarded as a body of knowledge, a system of knowledge or a method?

• Could there be scientific problems that are currently unknown because the technology needed to reveal them doesn’t exist yet?

• Is human knowledge confined to what the natural sciences discover, or are there other important inquiries that are not covered by the natural sciences?

• What knowledge, if any, is likely to always remain beyond the capabilities of science to investigate or verify?

• Do the natural sciences rely on any assumptions that are themselves unprovable by science?

• Is prediction the primary purpose of scientific knowledge?

• How might developments in scientific knowledge trigger political controversies or controversies in other areas of knowledge?

Perspectives

• How can it be that scientific knowledge changes over time?

• What role do paradigm shifts play in the progression of scientific knowledge?

• How does the social context of scientific work affect the methods and findings of science?

• In what ways have influential individuals contributed to the development of the natural sciences as an area of knowledge?

• Does the precision of the language used in the natural sciences successfully eliminate all ambiguity?

• Does the list of disciplines included in, or excluded from, the natural sciences change from one era to another, or from one culture or tradition to another?

• Does competition between scientists help or hinder the production of knowledge?

Methods and tools

• Is there a single “scientific method”?

• What is the role of imagination and intuition in the creation of hypotheses in the natural sciences?

• What kinds of explanations do natural scientists offer?

• Why are many of the laws in the natural sciences stated using the language of mathematics?

• What is the role of inductive and deductive reasoning in scientific inquiry, prediction and explanation?

• Does scientific language have a primarily descriptive, explanatory or interpretative function?

Ethics

• Is science, or should it be, value-free?

• Should scientific research be subject to ethical constraints or is the pursuit of all scientific knowledge intrinsically worthwhile?

• Do we tend to exaggerate the objectivity of scientific facts and the subjectivity of moral values?

• In what ways have developments in science challenged long-held ethical values? Can moral disagreements be resolved with reference to empirical evidence?

• Do human rights exist in the same way that the laws of gravity exist?

• Do scientists or the societies in which scientists operate exert a greater influence on what is ethically acceptable in this area of knowledge?

Making connections to the core theme

• How might we, as members of the public, judge whether to accept scientific findings if we do not have detailed scientific knowledge? (scope)

• How is it that scientific knowledge is often shared by large, geographically spread and culturally diverse groups? (perspectives)

• Is the depiction of the “scientific method” traditionally found in many school science textbooks an accurate model of scientific activity? (methods and tools)

• Do the natural sciences provide us with good examples of people who approach knowledge in a rigorous and responsible way? (ethics)