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