Does science produce knowledge?

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Does science produce knowledge?
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Biology is a science

• Atkins on Science

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What is science?

• What distinguishes science from other ways of
  knowing?
• How does science provide knowledge?
• Does science provide us with truth?
• Are there limits to what science can tell us?

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What is Science?
Methods of investigation based on the testing of
falsifiable (naturalistic) hypotheses that can
never be absolutely verified
-Why never absolutely verified?

• No amount of testing can guarantee absolute truth
• The complexity of reality precludes certain
  knowledge

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Science methodology

• Observation
• Patterns
• Explanation
• Hypothesis
• Experimentation
• Verify/reject explanation

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Science observation
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Science provides useful and practical
approximations of reality

• Scientific knowledge changes over time
• Scientific knowledge is uncertain
• Light and mirrors

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Science provides theories to help us understand
how the world operates

• Atomic theory
• Gravitational theory
• Evolutionary theory

Are theories true?
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Is science an objective endeavor?

• Bias of investigators
• Social and cultural influences on interpretations
  of data
• Social influences on types of scientific
  questions asked
• Science reinforces and reflects the dominant
  values and views of society

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Scientific habits of mind can help people in
every walk of life to deal sensibly with problems
that often involve evidence, quantitative
considerations, logical arguments, and
uncertainty without the ability to think
critically and independently, citizens are easy
prey to dogmatists, flimflam artists, and
purveyors of simple solutions to complex problems

• F. James Rutherford Andrew Ahlgren
• Science for All Americans, 1990

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Discerning science from pseudoscience

• Not all studies are scientific
• Science is a game with rules

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Which of the following studies provides
scientific knowledge?

• 1) A religious organization is upset about the
  potential of human cloning, as they believe it is
  immoral. This group develops a survey to
  determine public opinion. 1000 people of the
  general public are asked if cloning humans is
  immoral. 950 respond that cloning humans is
  immoral.
• 2) CNN newscast The results of our scientific
  survey are in 75 of those polled agree that
  Saddam Hussein does have weapons of mass
  destruction
• 3) A person observes that Tylenol is more
  expensive than aspirin and guesses that it is a
  better product. She surveyed 100 doctors, and
  asked which drug is better for a headache. 90
  out of 100 doctors favor Tylenol.
• 4) 4 Campbell students decide to check out Food
  Lions beer selection. They hypothesize that
  more expensive beer tastes better. They test
  this by purchasing a case of Sam Adams
  (expensive) a case of Miller (cheap). After
  finishing off both cases, they unanimously agree
  that Sam Adams tastes better.
• 5) A microbiologist, after spending years
  observing the orderliness, yet complexity of
  cellular structures hypothesizes that this
  observed complexity of life is designed, and
  therefore, there is a God.
• 6) A wildlife biologist finds a rare species of
  fungi in two locations containing the same plant
  animal types, elevation, and climate. She
  encounters another location with the same
  conditions, and predicts that the fungus is
  present. She looks around carefully, and finds
  the fungus, confirming her prediction.
• 7) All of these
• 8) None of these

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Rules of science

• Observed phenomena to be explained must have a
  natural cause
• Explanation must be able to be tested
• Quality value assessments are not scientific
• Spiritual explanations are not scientific

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Science (summary)

• Provides knowledge through inquiry, based on
  testing possible naturalistic explanations of
  observed patterns in the natural world
• Provides useful approximations of reality
• Seeks to provide better explanations of
  observed reality
• Strives to be objective
• Operates according to specific rules

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Which of these statements about science is true?

1. Science is the only source of knowledge available
   to us
2. Science provides us theories which are absolutely
   true
3. Scientific knowledge is tentative
4. All of these
5. None of these

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Real science an example

• Monarch navigation

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What is the hypothesis of the investigators?

1. Monarchs migrate to Mexico each winter
2. Monarchs are not strong fliers
3. Monarchs use celestial information to navigate
   during migration
4. Monarchs contain magnetite
5. Monarchs use an internal magnetic compass to
   maintain their migratory direction

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What about Ifthen?

• Used in test (experiment) design

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Which treatment(s) serve as controls in this
experiment?

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. B and C
5. All of these
6. None of these

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What can be concluded from the experiment
conducted

1. Monarchs use both magnetic and sun compass
   information to orient and navigate
2. Monarchs contain magnetite
3. Monarchs use an internal magnetic compass to
   maintain migratory direction
4. All of these are valid conclusions
5. None of these are valid conclusions

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Biology

• The scientific study of (physical/natural) life
  on Earth

Romans 810 (KJV) And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness.
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Is there a Christian view of biology?

• God is ultimately the creator of all things
• How do we respond to creation, knowing there is a
  Creator?
• How do we use our knowledge of biology to glorify
  God?
• How do we interpret natural phenomena? (genetic
  disease, pathogenic disease, food chains,
  fossils, various types of sexual attraction,
  physiology)

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What distinguishes life from non-life?
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Categories of life