Social Work and Human Services

Social Work and Human Services

Arguments against the Statement That Science Tells Us the Truth about Reality

The statement that science tells us the truth about reality is false according to my opinion. Recent trends have shown that there are different conflicting scientific theories that have been developed by various scholars in an attempt to explain the reality of a certain phenomenon (Polanyi, 2000).  This has attracted a lot of questions regarding the truth and reality of the scientific theories as scientist provides divergent views on the scientific theory.

Science normally does not follow a logical and clear path in making conclusion about reality rather than focus on thought processes (Haraway & Manifesto, 2000).  This makes it unable to prove the reliability and correctness of the conclusion made.  There is no single phenomenon on the earth that science can determine for certain. Most of the scientific explanations of certain phenomenon on the world are based on the likelihoods and probabilities.  This is true since most of the scientific theories are based on various assumptions that make individuals to question their effectiveness.

The predictions that scientist make in their theories can never be true in reality but can only be sufficiently close to certainty (Segerstråle, 2000).  For a scientific prediction to be reliable, it should be rationally proved and concluded that the concepts on which it is based on is universally accepted and valid. This implies that they must have some relations with the actual things which in most case is difficult to achieve.  As an illustration, scientist cannot predict with certainty what can happen to an individual when he or she jumps from a tall building. This scientific prediction can however be made using gravitational force theory but it can never be accurate for the scientist to predict exactly what will happen to the person when he falls from a tall building.  This implies that although there is existence of gravitational force, it is not certain for scientist to explain the exact impact of gravitational force under different circumstances. This illustrates that science can never tells us the truth about reality.

Critical Stance on the Opinion

The arguments against the statement that science tells us the truth about reality can however be subjected to critical stance. Although scientists can never be certain about the truth of the theories that they develop, their scientific predictions are in most cases sufficiently close to reality thereby making human beings to rely on them (Lomborg & Kirkevold, 2003). There are a number of discoveries and invention that have been made by individuals based on science and technology. Some of the discoveries that have been made based on science and technology include invention of different machines and equipments that are currently being used by people in the society for various purposes. In fact some of the machines have contributed significantly to improved living standard of human beings in the society. For example, the invention of aero planes and motor vehicles are based on science and technology and has enabled people to move from one place to another with ease.

Science has also continued significantly towards the invention of various medicines that are very effective in curing some of the diseases (Latour, 2000). This can imply that science is capable of telling the truth about reality. In medicine, scientists have been able to determine the causes of a number of diseases thereby enabling them to come up with appropriate medicine that can help cure and prevent the diseases. Although some of the medication have not been successful, majority of the medications have been effective in curing the diseases. This proves that the science can tell the reality regarding the cause of a disease hence enable scientist to come up with appropriate medication.

References

Haraway, D., & Manifesto, A. C. (2000). Science, Technology and Socialist-‐Feminism in the

Late Twentieth Century’, The Cybercultures Reader, Routledge, London, 291

Latour, B. (2000). When things strike back: a possible contribution of ‘science studies’ to the

social sciences, The British Journal of Sociology, 51(1), 107-123

Lomborg, K., & Kirkevold, M. (2003). Truth and validity in grounded theory–a reconsidered

realist interpretation of the criteria: fit, work, relevance and modifiability. Nursing Philosophy, 4(3), 189-200

Polanyi, M. (2000). The republic of science: Its political and economic theory. Minerva, 38(1),

1-21.

Segerstråle, U. C. O. (2000). Defenders of the truth: The sociobiology debate. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

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