Science is a concept that helps many individuals understand how everything around them works. There are many different branches of science that cover all different aspects of life on Earth, the environment, and space. Science is defined, “the study of the nature and behavior of natural things and the knowledge that we obtain about them” (Collins Dictionary). Some of the branches of science are biology, chemistry, and physics. In the introduction to Ignorance: How it Drive Science by Stuart Firestein, the audience could see how the use of “science” is mainly used to talk about the entire book. Some points are also made by Firestein about how ignorance is related to science. In the text, The Scientist As Rebel by Freeman Dyson, the author writes about his personal beliefs about “science”. In the text, Pure Science: An Old Name with Some New Ways of Thinking by Shreyas Vissapragada, the author distinguishes the difference between “apply science” and “pure science” (Vissapragada). Vissapragada talks about the difference between “apply and pure science” (Vissapragada) and how they are both two completely different branches of “science”. How is the scientific research mediated by social expectations? Everyone does not have the same perspective on what science is; everyone also does not study science the same ways.
Firestein writes about how many people are ignorant and they do not have much knowledge about science. mentions how some people are ignorant about science and how others look at science, he also mentions how science is used to give us knowledge about everything that happens around us. Firestein says that science is like a big puzzle that scientists are putting it together (Firestein 1). Firestein also utilizes repetition to put emphasis on the main idea. To help the reader understand Firestein’s main idea, Firestein says, “ Its black cats in dark rooms” (Firestein 2), a metaphor compared to the general concept of science. This is to make the point that scientists do not know everything there is to know about “science”. Firestein also writes about the nonscientist people and how they might look at science versus how actual scientist look at it.
In Dyson’s work, the explanation of the concept, “science”, is different. Throughout the text, Dyson writes about his personal beliefs about science. Dyson mentions some of the stranger things about science and how those things fascinate him. Dyson says that science could also be a human activity (Dyson 805) . In this text, the author has an interpretive problem and is that he has a low opinion on reductionism. “I have a low opinion of reductionism, which seems to me to be at best irrelevant and at worst misleading as a description of what science is about” (Dyson 800). Dyson believes in reductionism; he believes it gives a clear understanding that he is not comfortable with people having a misconception of what science is really about. “My message is that science is a human activity, and the best way to understand it is to understand the individual human beings who practice it” (Dyson 805). He believes that humans have a great influence over the definition of science and what it really is. Dyson also believes that once an individual realizes that science is greatly influenced by human activity, they will completely understand what science really is. I say that to believe on something, you first have to believe in the person that is going through with the actions. Dyson concludes his work by informing the reader that the true way to understand science is to understand the human activity and influence over it.
In Vissapragada’s text, the reader is able to understand how the author talks about two different branches of “science”. Vissapragada talks about “apply science” and “pure science” and how they both do their own studies (Vissapragada). Apply science is the personal beliefs of a person towards science. Pure science is the discoveries made by a scientist. Throughout the text, the reader can get a better understanding of pure science. Pure science can help with economic growth and helps the community of “innovators to grow together (Vissapragada, par. 11). The author is mentioning the positive things about pure science and how it can help the scientific community. The reader can also understand how the author says that “pure science has created the intellectual space from which all that success derived” (Vissapragada, par. 13). Pure science can be more important than apply science. This is true because what scientist discover is always going to be more important than what a person believes. Throughout the text, the author mostly talks about the differences in these two branches of science.
In these three articles, the authors talk about science in different ways. Some talk about science and the ignorance related to science, others talk about their personal beliefs when it comes to science, and others talk two different branches that fall under science. This shows the audience that science is a big topic and that it can be approached in many different ways. The way that all people look at science is not always going to be the same. People are always going to have different points of views when it comes to science. But little by little, scientist are going to put together the big puzzle that explains everything there is to know about science.
Works Cited
Firestein, Stuart. “ ‘Introduction” to Ignorance: How it Drives Science”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Dyson, Freeman. “ The Scientist As Rebel”. The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 103, No. 9 (Nov. 1996), pp. 800-805. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Print.
Vissapragada, Shreyas. “Pure Science: An Old Name with Some New Ways of Thinking”. The Morningside Review. Print.
“Science”.Collins Dictionary. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/scie
nce. Accessed 4 November 2018. Web.
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