entities. For example, there is evidence that many different cultures drilled holes in the
skulls of patients who had seizures or other maladies, thinking that they were releasing evil
spirits.
Science as a Way of Knowing
During your own and your parents’ lifetimes, advances in medicine (Figure1.4), technology,
and other fields have progressed faster than any other time in history. This explosion of
advancesinourlivesislargelyduetohumanuseofmodernscienceasawayofunderstanding.
Today’s scientists are trained to base their comprehension of the world on evidence and
reasoning rather than belief and assumptions.
Figure 1.4: The anatomy lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. ( 26 )Modern science is:
- A way of understanding about the physical world, based on observable evidence, rea-
soning, and repeated testing. - A body of knowledge that is based on observable evidence, experimentation, reasoning,
and repeated testing.
As we learn more, new information occasionally conflicts with our current understanding.
When this happens scientific explanations are revised. TheFigure1.5demonstrates this.
However, science cannot scrutinize what is good versus what is bad (morality), because these
are values, ideas that lack measurable evidence. Science is not used to examine philosophy