From Science to Philosophy

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From Science to Philosophy: A Look Inside

 

As we know, science has two meanings. In one sense, it conveys absolute awareness. In logic, it is referred to as the picture an object makes in the mind. Its second meaning pertains to empirical sciences, which include studying the relationships among phenomena in order to discover a law. Understanding and science are quite distinct from each other; cognition is absolute perception, and there are two kinds of understanding:

a)Initial Understanding: includes the reflection of an observable phenomenon, like the face of a person or a tree, in the mind, or the perception of an unobservable fact, like realizing justice and beauty. 

b)Continuous Understanding: involves the continuation of the reflection of initial understanding in the mind. This type of understanding was called imaginative cognition by ancient philosophers.

We cannot find a comprehensive definition for science on which all scholars and intellectuals would agree. Some of them have considered science as the reflection of facts in the human mind. They do not consider mental activities to have a significant role in the development of science, for if a topic is to fall into scientific domains, omission, selection, secondary knowledge of the realities reflected in the mind, imagining them, their dependence on laws and rules, and also the possibility of their breaking away from the old laws and rules owing to new discoveries, are other elements necessary for knowledge. 

 The Definition of Science

Science involves discovering the fact whose general occurrence is independent upon the self and cognitive tools of man's existence and establishing a relationship with it. Any theorem depicting such a discovery can be called a scientific theorem. 

Any scientific theorem based on facts consists of components that may disrupt the whole theorem by their least change. For example, changes in the relationship of the observer and the facts, i.e. any shift in his line of sight or distance from the object, will alter the entire scientific theorem.

Thus, science is the recognition of phenomena accompanied by the complete domination of man’s soul over them – therefore, not all forms of imagination or perception can be called recognition; the domination of the soul over the issue is essential. Science is one of the human self’s discovery activities, not merely a reflection and subsequent perception. 

The Levels of Science

Regardless of pre-determined principles, science can be classified into two degrees:

1-The beginning level of science includes the pure reflection of a subject into the mind by means of our senses and other devices. At this level, our mind is like a mirror  except for issues without observable effects, like causality, which is far different from seeing something in the mirror. This level is called “pre-science.”

2-In the next level, the subject reflected in the mind falls into the streams of side information, concentration and universal laws, and principles. We now have a clearer knowledge of the subject, for it is no longer a mere reflection. In this step, the mind learns a lot about a phenomenon, and begins to discover how it relates to other phenomena. For example, when observing a leaf, the mental awareness of the observer does not only make him study the physical aspects of the leaf; he will go beyond that and study its other aspects, considering it as a link of the chain of the universe.

Considering science according to the state of mind the scientist may be in, science will have three steps:

a)Elementary: in this step, the mind encounters a great deal of certainties. Any phenomenon man realizes is considered as a separate fact. 

a)Intermediate: the mind encounters various aspects of phenomena, and figures them out, provided there is no conflict between them; thus, the mind passes doubt and enters the higher stage.

b)Advanced: the mind is at the peak of its awareness here, and reaches complete certainty by means of total knowledge of all phenomena.

 

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