Modern science – its sense, structure.
Why the research is necessary for medicine
Doc. PhDr. M. Nemčeková, CSc.
1. What is recognized, discovered? Object of science
2. How is it recognized? Epistemology, methodology, methods
3. How recognized items should be formulated (expressed) in language?
Concepts, constructs, categories, terms
Scientific language have to be accurate, exact, unambiguous
Epistemology
Humans can never achieve (and will never achieve) absolute knowledge of ‘’truth’’. There is
one ultimate total reality and an ultimate total truth; but because humans are only capable of
accumulating limited information of and about it, there will always be different
interpretations of the same reality from different perspectives. This does not mean that
humans should abandon enquiry, but only that they should accept that none will never
know it all.
Human cognitive or epistemic activity are always realized in some historical, cultural,
spiritual and social context. This context determinates or at least impacts on human activity,
discovering, its understanding and realization of pieces of knowledge including.
In historical perspective philosophy has created the grouds of epistemé. It means some starting
point of recognition and its appropriate methodology.
Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature
and scope of knowledge. The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek words "επιστημη or
episteme" (knowledge) and "λόγος or logos" (account/explanation.
Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it
relates to similar notions such as truth, belief, and justification. It also deals with the means
of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. In other
words, epistemology primarily addresses the following questions: "What is knowledge?",
"How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?". Although approaches to
answering any one of these questions frequently involve theories that are connected to others,
there is enough particular to each that they may be examined separately.
There are many different topics, stances, and arguments in the field of epistemology. Recent
studies have dramatically challenged centuries-old assumptions, and the discipline therefore
continues to be vibrant and dynamic.
Methodology is defined as (1) "a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a
discipline", (2) "a particular procedure or set of procedures", or (3) "the analysis of the
principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field". The common idea here is the
collection, the comparative study, and the critique of the individual methods that are used in
a given discipline or field of inquiry.
Methodology refers to more than a simple set of methods; rather it refers to the rationale and
the philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study. This is why scholarly literature
often includes a section on the methodology of the researchers. This section does more than
outline the researchers’ methods (as in, “We conducted a survey of 50 people over a twoweek period and subjected the results to statistical analysis,” etc.); it might explain what the
researchers’ ontological or epistemological views are.
Example
For instance, do the researchers believe in the positivist paradigm, which holds that truth is
out there, waiting to be discovered? In this view, facts exist independently of any theories or
human observation. This is very much a view in the Western philosophical tradition, which
informs Western science: reality is assumed to be objective – that is, it exists outside of our
perceptions of things. And so, in this paradigm, neither the search for truth nor truth itself is
problematic; Truth (with a capital "T") is definite and ascertainable. The “men in white coats”
conduct an empirical experiment in a lab and then pronounce to the rest of us what they, as
“experts,” have discovered. or
Constructivist epistemology - is truth constructed within the minds of individuals and
between people in a culture? In this view, facts become "facts," and are a construct of theories
and points of view. This paradigm holds that both the nature of truth and the inquiry into that
truth are problematic because truth is built (or constructed) from the ongoing process of
negotiation, reevaluation and refinement of and between individuals.
So, in a properly conceived methodology, a researcher will explain his or her fundamental
approaches to reality.
Set of methods
Most sciences have their own specific methods, which are supported by methodologies (i.e.,
rationale that support the method's validity).
The social sciences are methodologically diverse using both qualitative methods and
quantitative methods, including case studies, survey research, statistical analysis, and model
building among others.
Hermeneutics may be described as the development and study of theories of the
interpretation and understanding of texts. In contemporary usage, hermeneutics often refers to
study of the interpretation of Biblical texts. However, it is more broadly used in contemporary
philosophy to denote the study of theories and methods of the interpretation of all texts. The
concept of "text" is here also extended beyond written documents to any number of objects
subject to interpretation. A hermeneutic is defined as a specific system or method for
interpretation, or a specific theory of interpretation.
M- orientated us which means, tools, devices are appropriate to achieve the truth.
Science in the broadest sense refers to any system of knowledge attained by verifiable
means. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based
on empiricism, experimentation, and methodological naturalism, as well as to the
organized body of knowledge humans have gained by such research. In short, Science is a
pursuit of the least common denominator. Science is an attempt to explain the complexities of
nature in a common, known and replicatable way.
Scientists maintain that scientific investigation must adhere to the scientific method, a process
for evaluating empirical knowledge that explains observable events in nature as results of
natural causes, rejecting supernatural notions.
Scientific method
Scientists use model to refer to a description of something, specifically one which can be used
to make predictions that can be tested by experiment or observation. A hypothesis is a
contention that has been neither well supported nor yet ruled out by experiment. A theory, in
the context of science, is a logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the
behavior of a certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much
broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis — commonly, a large number of hypotheses
may be logically bound together by a single theory. A physical law or law of nature is a
scientific generalization based on a sufficiently large number of empirical observations that it
is taken as fully verified.
The scientific method provides an objective process to find solutions to problems in a number
of scientific and technological fields. Often scientists have a preference for one outcome over
another, and it is important that this preference does not bias their interpretation. The
scientific method attempts to minimize the influence of a scientist's bias on the outcome
of an experiment. This can be achieved by correct experimental design, and thorough peer
review of experimental design as well as conclusions of a study.
Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:
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Natural sciences, the study of the natural phenomena;
Social sciences, the systematic study of human behavior and societies.
Goals of science
Science continually seeks to gain increased understanding and, where appropriate, the
possibility for control of many specific aspects of the physical world. Its successes in
achieving this goal stem directly from its ability to elucidate the foundational mechanisms
which underlie nature's processes..
The underlying goal or purpose of science to society and individuals is to produce useful
models of reality. It has been said that it is virtually impossible to make inferences from
human senses which actually describe what “is.” On the other hand, people can form
hypotheses based on observations that they make in the world. By analyzing a number of
related hypotheses, scientists can form general theories. These theories benefit society or
human individuals who make use of them.
Scientific rationality
In philosophy rationality and reason are the key methods used to treat the data gathered
through empiricism, which stands for the experiences, the observations which our senses are
used to collect.
It is based od 3 principles:
1. Principle of universality
2. Unity of knowledge, system
3. Theoretical-explanative character of science
MODERN SCIENCE – its attributes
1. Creative character of racionality - hypotheses
- is a suggested expanation of phenomenon or reasoned
proposal suggesting a possible correlation between
multiple phenomena
2. Research as a method
- systematic, controlled, empirical, public, critical
investigation of natural phenomena
3. Experiment
4. The instrumets and devices are used
5. Exactness and mathematization
6. Special terminology
A concept is an abstract idea or a mental symbol, typically associated with a
corresponding representation in language or symbology, that denotes all of the objects in a
given category or class of entities, interactions, phenomena, or relationships between
them.
Definitions are constitutive and operational
A hypothesi (from Greek ὑπόθεσις) is a suggested explanation of a phenomenon or reasoned
proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. The term derives
from the ancient Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". The scientific
method requires that one can test a scientific hypothesis. Scientists generally base such
hypotheses on previous observations or on extensions of scientific theories.
Scientific research – is systematic, controlled, empirical, public and kritical investigation of
natural phenomena. It is guided by theory and hypotheses about the presumed relations
among such phenomena.
A concept is an abstract idea or a mental symbol, typically associated with a corresponding
representation in language or symbology, that denotes all of the objects in a given category or
class of entities, interactions, phenomena, or relationships between them. Concepts are
abstract in that they omit the differences of the things in their extension, treating them as if
they were identical. They are universal in that they apply equally to every thing in their
extension. Concepts are also the basic elements of propositions, much the same way a word is
the basic semantic element of a sentence. Unlike perceptions, which are particular images of
individual objects, concepts cannot be visualized. Because they are not, themselves,
individual perceptions, concepts are discursive and result from reason. They can only be
thought and designated by a name.
Concepts are extremely useful for the development of science. It would be difficult to
imagine science without concepts like: energy, force, acceleration, time, charge, or gravity.
Similarly, there are concepts in biological sciences, for example, animal, biome, chromosome,
death, egg, fertile, gene, growth, gymnosperm, heredity, hybrid, life, living being, organ,
organism, ovule, plant, prokaryote, soil, vascular, zygote and there are concepts in social
sciences viz. capital, commodity, finance, geist, psyche, society, wealth community etc.
Concepts help to integrate apparently unrelated observations and phenomena into viable
hypothesis and theories, the basic ingredients of science.
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