October 30, 2018

What is science? Science is the history of how the world works naturally. We use the scientific method to come up with a conclusion from observations, experiments and evidence we have collected. The word or concept of “science” is used in numerous aspects from movies to newspapers to books. In the following three texts of Stuart Firestein’s, “Introduction” to Ignorance: How it Drives Science, Freeman Dyson’s, “Scientists as Rebel” and Shreyas Vissapragada’s “Pure Science: An Old Name with Some New Ways of  Thinking”, all authors have an argument of what they think science is really about. Some may agree while others may not agree with their claims on science. I believe science is the way things came to be by using experimentation, observation and hypotheses known as the scientific method.

Stuart Firestein claims that the concept “science” should be driven by ignorance. He states that ignorance- the thought of not knowing is greater than knowledge. The role of ignorance in scientific research is to benefit scientists by constantly trying to find and learn new concepts. Firestein uses a metaphor to describe ignorance in science. “It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room,” warns an old proverb. “Especially when there is no cat.” (Firestein 1). The author compares science (ignorance in this case) to a cat in a dark room. Scientists are continuously finding new content from researching, observing and experimenting. “Even if there may not be a cat” means that scientists think they have already found discoveries with no further explanation to. They say, another experiment may cause them to focus on the discovery again, implementing scientists back into the dark room, even if the discovery- in this metaphor a cat, may or may not exist. I say that no matter what discoveries and laws that scientists have established, eventually there will always be new discoveries. The possibilities in the world of science is endless since this atmosphere is infinite. “It leads us to frame better questions, the first step to getting better answers. It is the most important resource we scientists have, and using it correctly is the most important thing a scientist does.” (Firestein 7). His main argument claims that as scientists, we research on what we do not know rather than what we do know. Unquestionably, he believes that ignorance is superb because it makes scientists ask better questions. Instead of focusing on things that are already known like experiences and facts, I say we should dig deeper into the unknown so that we can come up with more questions and create scientific observations on those. The author uses references of his own experience and knowledge to show contradiction of how science is pursued and perceived. 

In “Scientist as Rebel” by Freeman Dyson, Dyson states that science is understood by those who practice it. Their drive in science is led by their imagination and theories. Multiple figures like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Ernest Rutherford have found and created discoveries, theories and laws of science. A possible ethical consequences of scientific knowledge is religion tying in with science. Religion affects the morals and ethics of people causing them to act a certain way. In the text, Dyson argues, “Since I believe that scientists should be artists and rebels, obeying their own instincts rather than social demands or philosophical principles, I do not fully agree with either view of history. Nevertheless, scientists should pay attention to the historians. We have much to learn, especially from the social historians.” (803). They say that scientists need to pay attention to historians because they are the ones who have come up with ideas. These historians had imaginary thoughts that had no limit to what they would focus on. I say that science is looked into buy not following the rules. If we keep our thoughts on a limit, we will not be able to from and find new theories. Therefore, as scientists, they must be rebellious in order to further understand how things work naturally. 

The author Shreyas Vissapragada portraits the word science as not a race. Most people see science research as a competition or race. Science is pure, purely just to learn how the world works. In “Pure Science: An Old Name with Some New Ways of Thinking” Vissapragda declares, “scientists have worked together across borders for years to learn more about the world. South Korea might always be a step ahead of America in whatever since ranking system the media chooses to publicize, but the reality of science is that South Koreans and Americans work together in labs and groups quite frequently.” (2). They say pure science is all about working together to establish an outcome. It’s all about the journey, helping one another rather than the establishment or achievement. I say competitiveness in science isn’t the greatest because scientists just want to reach the end instead of actually researching for fair answers. Not everything is a race, slow and steady wins the race- benefitting one another will result in a better outcome in the natural world of science. 

In conclusion, through the following three texts, the concept of science can be portrayed differently. According to Firestein, to him science should be driven by ignorance. Not knowing aspects can help scientists dig deep into what we want to know. Focusing on the unknown can make people think harder, questions theories more. Dyson on the other hand believes scientists should be rebels. Having a guideline in how one should think limits the endless discoveries and possibilities of a scientists. Therefore, scientists must be rebellious and not stick to reductionism for it doesn’t open the mind of a scientist. He says historians should be looked up at and studied. Finally, Vissapragada views the word science as working with one another to come up with great theories and laws instead of having a competition of discoveries as a social concept. 

Works Cited:

• “The Scientist as Rebel,” a collection of book reviews published by the New York Review of Books, 2006.
• Reprinted from IGNORANCE: How It Drives Science by Stuart Firestein with permission from Oxford University Press, Inc. Copyright © 2012 by Stuart Firestein. 

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