1. What is science?

 Science is a human activity with the twofold purpose of seeking authentic knowledge about the world
(the theoretical goal of science) as well as utilizing this knowledge for man’s own ends (the practical
goal of science) – which enterprise is carried out by submitting its objects of study to experimental
control, thus yielding partial (though nonetheless genuine) truth, valid within its specific theoretical
context.

2. What were Aristotle’s contributions to the natural sciences?

 Aristotle made contributions to the fields of mechanics (physics of motion), astronomy, meterorology,
optics, mineralogy, biology, anatomy, and natural history. (Outside the realm of the natural sciences he
has made multiple contributions in various fields: natural philosophy, social and political philosophy,
logic, poetics, and others.)

3. How were Plato’s ideas about the natural world?

 According to Plato, the beings existing in the natural world—hence, by extension, the entirety of the
natural world—does not constitute reality itself, but are rather simply copies (even, defective copies)
of the ideas, or forms, that truly constituted reality. He regarded the natural world as a mere shadow of
the world of Forms, as presented in his famous allegory of the cave: several men shackled facing the
wall of the cave with a fire behind them, unable to turn around, able to perceive only the shadows on
the wall made by objects outside the cave. To Plato, likewise what we perceive as the natural world are
mere shadows of the principal realities which are the Forms. Natural realities depend on the Forms for
their existence. On man’s part, he must free himself from the shackles of the natural realm (i.e., the
body and the world of sense experience), if he is to behold the realm of the Forms and acquire true
knowledge. In his idea of the soul being imprisoned in the body of which it must free itself, some
influence of the Pythagorean school can be felt.
 Moreover, Plato posits the existence of the Demiurge, which is the maker of the Forms and from which
the Forms derive their existence; the Forms are eternal just as the Demiurge is eternal. The Divine
Craftsman is responsible for order and rationality in the cosmos: having imposed a rational plan upon
the chaos of the preexisting raw material, and having arranged it such that the objects of the natural
world are imperfect replicas of the Forms. The Demiurge is above the natural realm, and may be
identified with the Form of the Forms, in whose being all the other sub-Forms participate.
 Seemingly another consequence of Pythagoras’ influence, Plato believed that the arrangement of the
cosmos by the Demiurge followed a mathematical order, in particular, the theory of geometric atomism.
The four elements claimed by Empedocles to constitute natural things—fire, earth, water, air—are
endowed with geometic configurations, with the triangle as the basic unit. Among the five regular
geometric solids (now termed Platonic solids), he assigned the tetrahedron to fire, the cube to earth, the
octahedron to air, the dodecahedron to the cosmos as a whole, and the icosahedron to water. These
geometric configurations allow for the transmutation of substances widely held at the time, and
accounts for diversity in the natural world. Together with his theory of forms, Plato presents a
plausible synthesis of the conflicting thought of Heraclitus and Parmenides regarding the question of
change and permanence in the world, whether one or the other is truly constitutive of reality. In sum,
 he answers that both change and permanence may be accounted for: multiplicity and change in the
world as a consequence of the geometric properties of the four basic elements, and permanence in the
world owing to the permanence of the Forms of which they are a replica, albeit imperfect replicas.
 Moreover, Plato envisioned the earth as a sphere, concentric with another, larger celestial sphere on
whose surface the stars and heavenly bodies travel circular paths. Ultimately, the cosmos is one living
being, rational and purposive, animated by the Demiurge who, as its soul, accounts for all motion in
the cosmos.

4. Discuss early Greek astronomy: Eudoxus, Aristarchus and Ptolemy.

 Eudoxus devised the first geometric model of the earth, and which closely resembled Plato’s idea of
two concentric spheres: the earth at the center, and a larger celestial sphere where the starts and other
heavenly bodies reside and whose daily rotation accounts for the rising and setting of these celestial
bodies. The stars are fixed upon the celestial sphere, and the sun circled the earth in one year. In order
to account for irregularities in planetary motion, Eudoxus compounded the circular motions of these
bodies instead of a simple circular orbit about the earth. However, his model was not meant to be a
quantitatively accurate representation, much less of predictive value.
 Aristarchus, on the other hand, presented the first known heliocentric model. He proposed the sun
being at the center of the cosmos, with the earth and other heavenly bodies moving around it. For lack
of substantial evidence, his theory was often rejected in favor of the geocentric model.
 Claudius Ptolemy also followed Eudoxus’ geocentric model but improved upon the latter’s work by
making quantitative predictions of future positions of celestial bodies. Instead of having the planets
travel about the surface of a sphere, however, he instead relied on uniform circular motion, and
furthermore allowed for the circles to be non-concentric with the earth, known as the eccentric model.
Added to this, he introduced the notion of epicycles and deferents: the planet would move about a
relatively small circle (an epicycle) whose center moved along a bigger circle (the deferent circle). At
this time, circular planetary motion was thought to be most probable as it is simple and also
corresponded to the cycle of seasons.

5. Discuss early Greek and Roman medicine: Hippocrates. Galen.

 Hippocrates, from whose name derives the famed Hippocratic Oath, was an early Greek physician who
regarded medicine both as an art and a science. With his treatises on health and disease, the practice of
medicine considerably moved away from magic and supernatural elements, though these were not
completely absent. Hippocrates aimed to relate bodily infirmities to natural causes, and associated
illnesses with an imbalance of fluids in the body, whether of yellow bile (Latin cholera), black bile
(Latin melancholia), phlegm, or blood (Latin sanguine) – for which balance must be restored if the
patient is to recover. It had been emphasized that the physician’s role was to facilitate the body’s
process of recovery through diet, exercise, and hygiene, though the practice of purging (by way of
inducing the discharge of bodily fluids) was also done at that time. Clinical practices for the detection
of symptoms as well as the treatment of wounds and injuries were also dealt with in the Hippocratic
treatises. Nonetheless, the dissection of human bodies was much discouraged; knowledge of anatomy
 and physiology through this means came through the hands of Herophilus and, subsequently,
Erasistratus.
 Galen, whose work in the medical field dominated Western learning from antiquity until the
Renaissance, emphasized the role of clinical observation and recording case histories. His main
contribution was the localization of disease by identifying the affected organs. He often relied on
measurements of pulse and the examination of urine, and emphasized the relation of anatomy and the
functioning of organs. The longevity of Galen’s influence is due to his thorough work in addressing the
prevalent medical conditions of the day.

6. How was science transmitted to the middle ages? What is the role of Christianity?

 The Church recognized the fact that literacy is essential for the faithful if they are to know the Faith
better. From this the Church has moved to become a major patron of education in Europe, and much of
classical learning has been passed on, including philosophy and science. Especially with the Fall of the
Rome, classical education was neglected by the Germanic tribes that overran the empire and dwindled
rapidly, save for a number of schools that continued to preserve the store of Western knowledge. This
scenario was relieved by the role of the monasteries, which developed libraries and continued to
transcribe classical works of learning and translating them from Greek to the vernacular Latin. Though
natural philosophy and science did not figure prominently in ecclesiastical studies, they were not
altogether absent – in this respect the classical tradition was still preserved and transmitted. In the
High Middle Ages, fueled by the Christian impetus, the rise of the universities (in Bologna, Paris,
Oxford, Salerno, Vicenza, Cambridge, Salamanca, Padua, Naples, and Vercelli) contributed further to
the progress of science, as the universities adopted a constructively critical disposition to the entirety of
classical learning, and not merely the servile attitude of assumption and repetition.

7. Discuss physics in the 1300s. The Mertonians.

 The logicians and mathematicians associated with Merton College of Oxford contributed of the study
of mechanics, marking the distinction between kinematics (the study of motion) and dynamics (the
study of the proximate causes of motion). The Mertonians provided the framework and vocabulary of
kinematics, introducing the notions of velocity and acceleration, which developed from the
philosophical concept of qualities which possessed degrees of intensity, here applied to local motion
(i.e., with regard to change of place).

8. Discuss cosmology in the middle ages. Buridan. Oresme.

 John Buridan and Nicholas Oresme dealt with the idea that the earth might be spinning on an axis,
though working still within the geocentric model. If this were so, the celestial sphere would not have to
rotate about the earth at great speeds, and there would be economy of movement since the earth could
rotate about its axis at a slower rate without affecting astronomical observations. However, Buridan
argued that such an axial rotation would not fit observations of falling bodies, such as an arrow shot
vertically into the air landing on the spot directly below. Oresme, on the other hand, answered the
objection with an appeal to what is currently known as a body’s frame of reference, citing the example
of motion aboard a moving ship being just as expected (relative to the ship) as if the ship itself were
 not moving – say, upon a moving ship, an arrow shot vertically into the air that lands on the spot
directly below it, despite the motion of the ship.

9. Discuss the role of the Church in the rise of the Universities? Explain the origin of the universities.

 Emerging from the monastic schools, the seed of the universities began in the 1100s as cathedral
schools that endeavored to master the Greek and Latin classics, as well as a variety of small public
schools consisting of a master and his ten to twelve students. This size grew in the 1200s to hundreds
of students at each school such as those of Paris, Bologna and Oxford. A minimum of organization was
necessary for such a large group of people engaged in a common endeavor, and so teachers and
students set up guild-like associations referred to as Universitas – the first universities. The universities
would gradually develop degree-granting undergraduate and graduate faculties, with the curriculum
consisting of the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric; moving onwards to the quadrivium of
arithmetic (number), geometry (number in space), music (number in time), and astronomy (number in
space and time); and leading to philosophy, medicine, law, and theology as advanced subjects. From its
origin in the bosom of the Church, the universities were also guided and it turn furthered the Catholic
intellectual tradition.

10. Explain the role of the following in the development of science: Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon and St.
Albert the Great.

 Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, grasped Aristotle’s notion of the dual path of scientific
reasoning: generalization of universal principles from particular observations, and applying the general
principles to the prediction of particular phenomena. He also introduced the notion of the controlled
experiment and related it to demonstrative science.
 Roger Bacon, OFM, continued Grosseteste’s work and commented upon Aristotle’s works on natural
philosophy, as well as developing his own work in mathematics and physics. He emphasized the study
of nature through empirical methods, dubbed Doctor Mirabilis, and is credited as one of the earliest
advocates of the modern scientific method. He was also the first in Europe to record the formula for
gunpowder invented in China.
 St. Albert the Great, aside from offering the first comprehensive interpretation of Aristotle for
Christianity in the West, also contributed with his writings to the advancement of physics, astronomy,
mineralogy, physiology, psychology, medicine, natural history, logic, mathematics, and especially
plant and animal biology.

11. Explain the works of: Nicholas Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.

 Nicholas Copernicus advanced a heliocentric model of the known universe.

 Tycho Brahe, one of the last naked eye astronomers (working without telescopes), contributed with his
precise measurements of astronomical phenomena to refuting the Aristotelian belief in the heavens
being unchanging. He revolutionized astronomical instrumentation with his inventions, and was the
first astronomer to incorporate corrections for atmoshperic refraction. He also pushed observational
practice to track the positions of heavenly bodies not only at important locations but throughout their
orbits, and hence discovered a number of orbital anomalies.
  Johannes Kepler resolved the orbital anomalies by mathematical relations known currently as the
planetary laws of motion, a salient point of which is that the planets revolve around the sun in elliptical,
rather than circular, orbits.

10. Discuss the physics of Newton.

 Isaac Newton formulated mathematically the laws of motion and of universal gravitation, founding
what is now known within physics as the branch of classical mechanics.
 The first law of motion states that an object at rest will remain at rest unless a net external force acts
on it, and that an object in uniform motion will remain in uniform motion unless a net external force
acts on it. This is known as the law of inertia.
 The second law of motion states that the net applied force on an object is equal to the change in its
momentum.
 The third law of motion states that for every action there exists an equal and opposite reaction.

12. Discuss the theory of electro-magnetism.

 Electromagnetism deals with the interaction of electrically charged particles, and its relation with
magnetic effects.

13. Discuss the theory of Relativity.

 The theory of relativity states that the laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion
relative to one another, and that the speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless
of their relative motion or the motion of the light source.

14. Discuss the theory of evolution of Darwin.

 Darwinism is the theory that posits natural selection ("survival of the fittest") as responsible for the
origin of new species via a process of gradual evolution: New species can arise over time through the
accumulation of small changes which enable the species to acquire distinctive traits that increase its
likelihood of survival.
 More precisely, Darwinian evolutionary theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop
through a natural selection of small inherited variations that increase the organism’s chance to survive,
which then enable it to reproduce and thus propagate the genetic variation to the rest of the species,
which may lead to transmutation of species (evolving from one species to another).

15. How does a scientist conduct his study of science?

 A scientist proceeds along the following line: forming the scientific object, then constructing a model
to adequately represent the observed phenomena, then constructing a theoretical framework to explain
the phenomena represented by the model, then confirming the validity of the theory.

16. Define: scientific object? Physical laws? Models? Theories? Frameworks? Properties? Magnitudes?
  Scientific object: a key concept that describes certain aspects of the real phenomena to be studied but
leaves other aspects aside; precisely defined partial aspects (properties) of reality that are accessible to
empirical study (as in a controlled experiment), conjunctions of which define a state.
 Physical law: a symbolic relation (frequently formulated by independent experimentation) that assumes
meaning when integrated into an explanatory system (a particular theoretical context), and whose
validity is approximate, provisional, and relative (since the theoretical symbolization and measurement
instruments can both still be progressively refined). Its application to concrete reality requires that a
whole group of laws be known and accepted.
 Model: an idealized representation of selected aspects of reality (an entity, property, or structure)
whose meaning is determined its theoretical framework. Each model is constructed in accordance with
the conceptual possibilities, the phenomena under study, and available experiments; validity is
determined by comparing actual experimental data with the consequences obtained through the model.
 Theory: a collection of inferences connecting theoretical constructs, formulated to deduce
consequences related in a coherent manner to experimental facts. Theories provide conceptual
frameworks for the description of observable phenomena.
 Framework: a basic conceptual structure of scientific ideas
 Properties: when defined in relation to experimental procedures, also called basic predicates: “technical
terms” constructed using available theoretical and experimental methods, permitting scientists to agree
on which propositions are thought to be true. Without definition of properties, it is not possible to
compare a model’s reference to reality.
 Magnitudes: quantitative concepts whose definition includes theoretical aspects that can never be
reduced to a mere conjunction of observational data

17. Discuss systematization in scientific studies.

 Systematization consists of varied activities, and also depends on the nature of the scientific field:
whether the theories more readily admit of axiomatization (e.g., in mathematics and physics) or not (as
in biology). Scientific study that is more descriptive in nature, such as biology, makes use of well-
established statements and techniques as a basis for investigating new problems; here the validity of
new facts is more readily obtained, since the study operates close to the observational level. A more
abstract science, such as physics, makes more use of the deductive method to arrive at logically
consistent results. Here when investigating a new problem, different theories and instrumental methods
may be invoked in conjunction, while introducing additional hypotheses; validity is determined based
on the observable consequences.

18. What are phenomenological and representational theories?

 A phenomenological theory studies the phenomena more directly, at a level closer to experience; hence
its theoretical constructs are simple and can be verified to a higher degree of confidence. However,
explanations and predictions in phenomenological theories tend to be comparatively shallow. On the
contrary, a representational theory deals with unobserved processes, and no direct experimentation is
possible; hypotheses are needed, and known laws are extrapolated to the new circumstances being
 studied. Hence representational theories are able to provide deeper explanations, but at the expense of
lesser certitude.

19. What is Positivism?

 Comte's Positivism holds that we cannot truly arrive at the knowledge of causes, but can only relate
observable phenomena. Positivism also claims that there are three archetypal stages in the development
of fields of knowledge: Myth, Theology, then Science.

20. What philosophical attitude is most conducive to scientific progress? Why?

 A realist philosophical perspective is most conducive to scientific progress since there is the requisite
openness to reality in the different aspects being investigated.

21. What is induction and deduction?

 Induction pertains to the process of forming a conclusion, such as a scientific law, based on multiple
observations where the predictions of the law seem to hold true. Deduction, meanwhile, refers to the
process of logically deriving a conclusion, such as a mathematical theorem, from a set of axioms held
to be true.

22. What is Karl Popper’s idea about what science is and what makes science move forward?

 Popper holds statements to be scientific only if they are falsifiable: that is, it must be possible to
conceive of evidence that would falsify (disprove) the statement. Moreover, in Popper's view science
moves in a progressive manner: from a prior, tentative, working theory, to a newer one each time that
is able to explain more phenomena.

23. What is Kuhn’s theory about scientific progress?

 Kuhn takes a historical view of the progress of science, and explains it as consisting of a series of
scientific revolutions. Each scientific revolution is set off by a significant problem that could not be
adequately explained by the current scientific world-view, and this leads to the rise of a new paradigm
that is better able to address the "anomaly" in the old one. Moreover, in many cases what appears to be
a mere extension of the previously dominant theory (such as Einstein's theory of relativity with respect
to Newtonian mechanics) actually involves a fundamental change in the definition of terms and in the
investigative approach -- though it does not seem the previous paradigm has been overthrown, a
scientific revolution has nonetheless genuinely taken place.

24. What is technology?

 Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to solve practical challenges.

25. Is science independent of ethics? Explain you answer.

 Science, being a human endeavor employing one's intellect and will, is never independent of ethics. All
human acts have an ethical dimension, and ethical considerations permeate the scientific process at
various points :1) the choice of research goals, 2) the staffing of research activities, 3) the selection of
 research methods, 4) the standards required for the research, 5) the dissemination of research findings,
6) the control of misinformation, 7) the giving of credit for research achievements. Moreover, studies
involving human life are especially subject to more stringent ethical considerations.

26. What is scientism?

 Scientism is the creed that only knowledge obtained through scientific study is valid; what cannot be
proved by science is meaningless.

27. Can science prove that God is irrelevant or that he does not exist?

 Science cannot directly prove or disprove the existence of God, since the notion of God lies outside the
scope of natural phenomena.

28. Are science and metaphysics contradictory studies? Why?

 They are not contradictory. On the one hand, science has its own scope of investigation, namely,
natural phenomena. Metaphysics, on the other hand, is concerned with being itself. Science deals with
proximate causes, while metaphysics deals with ultimate causes; hence they are complementary
disciplines.

29. Can science know the truth about reality?

 Yes, science can arrive at valid statements about reality, whether of description or explanation.
However these scientific truths do not account for the whole of reality; they are only partial (since it is
only valid within the scope of natural phenomena) and tentative (since scientific theories may always
be developed further in order to explain more phenomena).

30. Do science and Religion contradict each other?

 No, they do not, as they substantially differ in the object of study. Science tackles natural phenomena,
while religion concerns itself with the relation between man and God.

31. Does science exhaust all that we can know about man and nature?

 No, knowledge based on science alone is incomplete. Science cannot account for the ultimate causes of
reality, only proximate ones.

32. Does science provide man and culture with positive values? Negative values?

 Science in itself contributes positively to mankind, as it cultivates man's intellect and serves an
instrument to understand the world around him. However, as with anything else that involves man's
freedom, science may also have ill effects depending on how this knowledge is used, e.g., bioethical
issues, the cult of scientism...