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sci·ence

(sī'ents),

1. The branch of knowledge that produces theoretic explanations of natural phenomena based on experiments and observations.

2. An area of such knowledge that is restricted to explaining a limited class of phenomena.

[L. scientia, knowledge, fr. scio, to know]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

science

(sī′əns)

a. The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena: new advances in science and technology.

b. Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena: the science of astronomy.

2. A systematic method or body of knowledge in a given area: the science of marketing.

science

Vox populi The formal and systematic study of natural phenomena. See Big science, Fraud in science, Little science, Junk science, Misconduct in science, Prediction science, Pseudoscience.

sci·ence

(sī'ĕns)

1. The branch of knowledge that produces theoretic explanations of natural phenomena based on experiments and observations.

2. An area of such knowledge that is restricted to explaining a limited class of phenomena.

[L. scientia, knowledge, fr. scio, to know]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

References in periodicals archive ?

Even the definition of science was altered to having it be a discipline that sought "logical" instead of "natural" explanations, which is a difference significant to those who challenge evolution.

In Kansas, the debate about science evolves: one veteran reporter describes the complexities involved in telling this story as like entering 'The Land of Muck.'

Conservative members, who regained a majority in November, are also calling for a new definition of science, which would expand it from only natural explanations to what occurs to the unseen.

Kansas science standards likely to challenge evolution

However, this view is rejected by George Reisch, who worries that Dupre's characterization of science may be too permissive, because it does not provide a strict, hard-and-fast definition of science that can eliminate creationism, in which case it will be all owed to be discussed in science textbooks.

READINGS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: FROM POSITIVISM TO POSTMODERNISM

Parrinder begins somewhat disingenuously with "an uncontroversial definition of science fiction" (23)--one is immediately deafened by the sound of sf critics sharpening their knives.

Science Fiction, Critical Frontiers

Political scientists in certain subfields or specialties have expressed concern over their members' lack of success in securing NSF grants, some political scientists criticize its definition of science as too restricted, and some detect a bias in favor of specific theoretical paradigms (which paradigms change from time to time).

Political Science at the NSF: The Report of a Committee of the American Political Science Association

The scientific treatment differs from that of common sense, first in that a student will extend the completeness and minuteness of survey much further and in a pedantically systematic and methodical manner; and secondly in that the scientifically trained mind, will push the inquiry along really relevant lines, and towards aims possessing real importance.(3) For Malinowski, the scientific attitude was as old as culture, in so far as the minimal definition of science is derived from some kind of practical activity.

Anthropology: Science and Philosophy

In simply asserting one side of this very open debate, Gould roots his definition of science in brazen question-begging, as he all but confesses in the book's longest footnote (p.

BUT THEY DO OVERLAP

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), edited by John Clute and Peter Nichols, declares that 'there is no definition of science fiction that excludes fantasy'.

The Encyclopaedia of Fanstasy

This criticism raises an issue that niggled throughout--the implicit definition of science as natural science, exclusive of social science.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION

In essence, Peters propounds an all too restrictive definition of science. He divides modern, hypothetico-deductive science into a private phase, when intuition, theorizing, and casual observations may lead to the creation of new hypotheses, and a public phase, when hypotheses and predictions are formally tested.

A Critique for Ecology

Intentionally avoiding a narrow definition of science fiction as a genre, preferring to see it as "constantly becoming and without fixed form," Bould examines the films' representation of science, the nature of spectacle, and themes of colonialism and globalization, placing such investigations within a broader humanist perspective regarding the nature of subjectivity (2).

Bould, Mark. Science Fiction

This monograph on the history of science examines the effect of external social forces on the definition of science and explores the ways in which modern social pressures--to publish, to retain rights, and to monetize science--corrupt the process of knowledge development and discovery.